Crimson Dawn: Uzumaki Naruto
by Grimstep5
Summary: Intelligence is the key that links us all. It can transform a simple boy into an level headed know it all with a thirst for knowledge. Intelligence, the force that shaped him, Uzumaki Naruto, Genin and Anbu. A mind that never rest, his legend will remain.
1. Permission granted

Ok. Now this is something new, I decided that...hey I want to make a new story. That does not, by any means suggest that the sacred mark of the rising Kekkei genkai (my other story) is being discontinued I just wanted to try something new.

Yeah this story, is a completely original piece of mine, definitely an original storyline, every thing in this story will come right out of my you know I think that this story reflects how much of a different writer that I have become, well at least in my mind....and it better be in you minds as well!. It is up to you to decide on whether or not I changed for the better or the worst. However, who says that I will not incorporate a bit of Naruto canon to give it some stability...not me.

umm, since this is the first chapter I guess that there's not that much to say but enjoy.

Yeah seriously enjoy

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Crimson Dawn: Uzumaki Naruto

The sky was painted red as the familiar light of the sun began to creep up onto the skyline; the Hokage faces then gained their unusual rugged luster that made it seem as if the stone faces were somehow luminescent. From where he was standing Naruto couldn't help but admire the sight, his facial expression was somewhat constricted, taut; hiding beneath it the more jovial expression that remained unseen under the guise of an impassive visage.

There was something about the Hokage faces in the morning that made him want to stop whatever he was doing and look at them. The sight of what he was to become was there, right in front of him, he was so close yet so far. That was why he did this every morning. As soon as he would wake up, before he did anything else, the first thing that he would do was go onto the roof of his house and stare at the stone faces.

This soothing and silent daily ritual was a constant reminder of why he was still even in this piece of shit village.

Naruto inhaled sharply; exhaling with a sigh as a cool morning breeze caught the back of his neck, sending shivers down his spine.

Today would be his first day at the ninja academy and he would be entering it as the fabled bane of Konoha, the failure, and not what most people should have seen him as: a true genius.

As Naruto took a step back, he spun around on his heel and began to walk back into his shabby little apartment. His footsteps came to a sudden halt when he felt who it was that was standing behind him. "I suppose you're another one who came to, eliminate me, eh?" A small smirk appeared on his face as he realized that the man standing behind him had simply pulled out a kunai.

"Aren't going to answer me, at least bad-mouth me like the rest of them did." Naruto suggested before he spun around once again. When he turned, he centered his gaze onto a tall man with shaggy black hair, and beady eyes that matched in color. He wore a standard Jonin vest, indicating what rank he was, and his face laced with a thin coat of early-morning perspiration.

Honestly, Naruto could not tell whether or not the morning air produced the man's bit of sheen or whether it had been created by his growing fear of Naruto. The fact that Naruto did not have that same coat of perspiration confirmed that it could not have been the humid air but it was in fact the latter. Which brought Naruto's deeply complex mind to the conclusion that this black-haired Jonin was afraid of him? If so then why try to attack him?

Then without giving it much thought Naruto decided to ask the question circling his mind out into the air. "If you are so afraid of me then why are attempting to assassinate me?' Naruto's intense gaze locked onto the Jonin's own wavering one. After shifting his eyes from the floor to Naruto, then back to the floor he responded.

"Because.....d-demons like you don't deserve to live!" Yelled the Jonin as he charged at Naruto, kunai in hand. In a split second Naruto could see that the man's determination to kill him was a strong as ever, like a steel chain that refused to be broken. Whatever vendetta the Jonin may have had against him, Naruto was completely unaware of and did not bother to ask. Personal grudges were things that could corrupt even the greatest of warriors; even so, to foolishly attack someone solely on the matter of a grudge was unacceptable when it came to Naruto's standards.

If he had to be honest with himself, he would have to say that the quality of ninja had fallen in Konoha, and to his dismay, he was unfortunate enough to be born in with and after two generations of worthless shinobi. He would have to talk with Ojii-san about that later.

The foolish Jonin's stance was position was horrible, it was like some form of a porous taijutsu stance, full of openings and potential counters as well. Naruto knew not to kill him, but it was always fun teasing those who contended to take his life. With one quick motion, Naruto dipped under a wild swipe and clipped the man off his feet. Before he could get up Naruto pressed his bare foot against the back of the man's head, smashing his face into the concrete roof and knocking him unconscious.

As the last of the man's moans and groans of pain died out Naruto suddenly felt a superb sense of vindication. It was hardly a battle to be proud of, hell, it was hardly a battle at all but Naruto always seemed to find some feeling of pride whenever he discomfited the futile efforts of his would-be assassins.

Slowly Naruto grabbed the back of the man's collar and make one hand seal, disappeared in a swirl of leaves generated by some artificial wind.

Naruto reappeared in the Sandaime's office, with his unwanted guest still hanging him by the nape of his collar. Naruto looked up to see The Third Hokage sitting at his desk with his hands folded. At the sight of the unconscious Jonin, the old man just slapped his forehead and sighed heavily.

"Another one? How many time's has time's has it been this week, two...what three attempts to take your life?" Naruto simply nodded at the last number the Hokage stated. "I thought so.", he said his expression looking surprisingly lugubrious, contrary to his normal impassive state of face.

"This man-", Naruto hefted up the Jonin with one arm, hanging him into the air, "-so rudely interrupted my morning and tried to kill me. Don't worry I did not harm him; the worst of his injuries is probably a broken nose. Would you be so kind as to make sure that he gets sent to Ibiki and so rightfully gets what he deserves?"

"Sure thing Naruto-kun...I will keep note of your request. But I think that now would be the time for you to leave."

"And why would I do that?" Naruto asked putting on some fake schoolboy charm. The Sandaime just grimaced and sighed once more.

"Because Naruto, you're in your pajamas." Naruto's eyes widened a little bit; he had almost forgotten that he was wearing them. The blond just scratched the side of his head, in an obviously false bit of confusion.

"Oh...and what's the problem with that?"

"For all of your uncanny perceptiveness Naruto-kun you sure seem to not notice that I myself have company and, before you came, was in a very serious discussion with my subordinates." Slowly Naruto began to turn around as the old Sarutobi stuck his arm out, swaying it from one side to the other, as he was trying to display some oddly antique trinket.

Naruto, allowing his body to follow his 'grandfather's' gesture, turned fully around, only to come face to face with three ANBU shinobi. They all wore their distinct animal mask accordingly: the one on the left, who took on the likeness of an eagle, the on the right wore the mask portraying the face that Naruto for some odd reason mistook as that of a baboon. Finally, the Anbu in the middle, who was with no doubt, the captain, wore the oddly modified and makeshift visage of a tiger.

Although the boy could not see it, he could not help but think that the three Anbu all had their mouths agape behind the effective obscurity of their mask. They probably couldn't believe that the brat, the lowest of the low, the bane of Konoha had defeated a Jonin while he wasn't an academy student yet...and he did it all in his PJ's!

Naruto mentally prided himself at the sight of the subtle shock; even an Anbu couldn't hide their emotions from the ever perceptive Naruto. However, he did not act upon his thoughts and simply stared at them, creating an awkward tension in the room. His eyes darted on and off the three individuals before him until the weird sensation that arose in his gut forced him to look away and back toward The Third.

"Sorry for the interruption Ojii-san. Nevertheless, before I leave I simply must make a comment on the way shinobi are acting nowadays. Honestly, the overall mindset of shinobi in Konoha today has suffered a serious downgrade from what it used to be, it's actually making me question the merit and literal quality of the ninja in our village; that goes for all levels." That comment caused him a series of three loud coughs from behind that were obviously meant as a joke and obviously directed at him. "Anyway like I was saying, I simply suggest that you input more of your time into enforcing the law of shinobi decorum around the village, because I don't think that this man here-" He pointed to the brunette Jonin who he still sub-consciously had dangling from his hand, "-attacked me just because of my unfortunate condition here, the way he held his blade: with determination, with fear, with anger. It was obvious that he had some sort of personal vendetta against my prisoner and me. It would be foolish to let all shinobi in Konoha harbor a mindset so wrong like this man here."

With that said Naruto dropped the man to the floor; a loud thump indicated that he had landed on his head. He gave Sarutobi a curt bow and smile followed by the same action being performed to the three Anbu in the room.

"I'm sorry to have taken your time." With that Naruto made the hand seal that he used to bring himself to the Hokage's office in the first.

"Wait Naruto-kun...how did you know that this man attacked you because some grudge?" Sarutobi asked with an amused expression on his face. Being as perceptive as he was Naruto knew that the third was even more perceptive than he was. Moreover, because of that he knew that the old man never asked him questions like that unless he was trying to gauge Naruto's skill at reading people. However, for every smart question that Sarutobi asked him, Naruto had an equally smart or even smarter question waiting for the old man. This time the blond genius was at a loss.

"Hmm...Let's just call it a hunch." Naruto said.

Sarutobi chuckled. "Have a nice day at the academy Naruto.

"It's the first day you know I will." Naruto said with a smile before disappearing in a swirl of leaves much as he intended to do before.

As the blond boy faded from vision, the Anbu tiger in the middle spoke up.

"So that's Uzumaki Naruto, the infamous bane of Konoha."

"Yes... and it would do you well not to look at him like other people do Saito."

"And what would that be Hokage-sama?" Saito asked, inclining his head.

"As a demon and a failure, when in fact he is very much the opposite. He is a genius."

Saito was silent after that, if the Hokage felt so strongly about this boy that he would go so far and call him a genius then it was apparent that the kid was the real deal. He had heard stories about the boy who was Kyuubi's vessel but he had heard otherwise from what the Hokage mentioned. Now his mind was swarming with a mass of curiosity; and it continued to swarm and buzz around the one question, the centerpiece that was brought to his attention. Exactly who was Uzumaki Naruto?

xxxXXXxxx

Naruto arrived at the front gates of the ninja academy like any other kid his age would. He walked. It was a tad slow for his taste but every once in a while it felt good to act normal for once. However, acting was all that it was; there was nothing in or of the boy that when compared to other children his age would be considered normal. Not his mind, not his speech, not his intelligence and definitely not the giant demonic fox sealed away into his abdomen. But putting those qualities aside, Naruto was still....'moderately' normal.

While walking through the huge gates he suddenly remembered what it was that Ojii-san had told him about two days ago.

"Naruto, now that you're going to be joining other students around you age I want you to act your age." He said.

"Why...does it really matter?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, it does. I'm not saying that you should act like a complete idiot and withhold back every bit of knowledge that you have so far retained. I'm just saying that if want to be treated differently then it would be in your best interest to act the same. Kids your age don't usually possess information about the things that you do.....so basically what I'm saying is don't show off."

"Hai!" Naruto responded. That is what he intended to do; he planned on coming to the academy and not show off his skills. The reason for him starting the academy in the first place was so that he would advance in his ninja rank. If he were to ever attain his dream of becoming Hokage then he would at least have to become a Genin first.

As Naruto continued to walk toward the front door of the academy he suddenly froze, taken by shock. Around him, he noticed dozens of kids being dropped off by their parents; kids his age giving goodbye hugs to their loved ones as they began their first days of school. Just like them, he had made it here, his first step to becoming an actual shinobi, too bad he didn't have anyone to share the moment with.

Naruto had often thought what it would be like if he had parents but today that thought became all the more important to him. He wanted someone to hug goodbye like everyone else; unfortunately, he was not blessed with a family like other kids were. But then again other kids were not blessed with a mind and body like his.

He was cut from his introspective thoughts when he heard someone's voice. "Hey, are you lost...or what?" Naruto's head snapped to the source of the voice. When he looked up he saw...... what the hell _was_ he seeing?" He didn't now whether or not he was looking at a person or a fucking ghost.

The person in front of him was the very image of the word noble. The man in front of him had jet-black hair that ran down past his shoulders and was left to hang loosely. He wore robes of pure white. From where he stood, the man's robe seemed to avoid touching the ground and just hovered lightly above the dirt, as if the most likely soft linen was tantalizing the ground because it could not be touched by the ground. It was what gave him the ghost-like appearance and what made him noble. Even in the dirtiest and dustiest of places the clothing of a noble refused to dirty itself. Despite his absurdly clean attire, Naruto noticed some other distinct features on the man, like the structure of his jaw and the intensity of his eyes. Oh, and his eyes...his eyes were the most distinguishable feature about him, for they were white and pupil-less.

This man standing in front of him was a Hyuuga. From what he had seen, Naruto knew that Hyuuga's were supposed to be stuck up douche bags.

"Well....are you going to answer me or are you going to just stand there like a silent fool?" Yep he was right; this person was definitely a douche.

"No I'm not lost; actually I was just on my way to class. It's my first day." Naruto said with such cool innocence that seemed to ignite the much larger man even more, although his emotion-less face mask that all Hyuuga's seemed to wear at all times seemed to aid in hiding it. Even so that didn't mean that Naruto still couldn't read the man's actions. He could tell by the slight twitch of the Hyuuga's fingers when he spoke and the barely visible one-millimeter arch in his eyebrows that the white-eyed ghost was enraged merely at the concept of standing next to him. Again, The Kyuubi no Kitsune caused someone to judge him before they got to know him.

"Um-hm and they let _you _of all people in? What a shame, it seems that Konoha has fallen down to low standards this year."

"Well, I do beg your pardon, but what exactly do you mean by they let me of all people in?"

"Nothing at all."

"I thought as much." Naruto smirked as the man simply swallowed down the massive amount of Hyuuga pride that his clan was so famous for and turned around, facing a girl who up until now Naruto hadn't noticed.

"Hinata.....this is important, this is where it starts for you. If you fail then you will have lost all honors from me. By the end of today, I want an oral report of today's happenings and a sense of you status in the classroom. You are a Hyuuga, so I expect you to behave as such.

From what Naruto could see, a girl around his size, stood virtually petrified in front of the Hyuuga. She hid it with a mask of impassiveness; she was hiding her fear, that both Naruto and the male Hyuuga knew it.

"H-Hai...I w-will try my best."

"No you _will _be THE best. Understood?" Hinata nodded.

Yes...father." Hinata said; her eyes a bit downcast. The man just nodded and turned around, with a grace that only a Hyuuga would possess. He gave Naruto one last huff before walking past him and out of the academy gates.

Naruto could tell that the man had just resisted the urge to sputter out any further words; perhaps he was afraid of breaking the law that the Sandaime had put into action by uttering one too many words about the nine-tailed fox.

So now Naruto was just standing.....standing with some girl who he now knew to be Hyuuga Hinata. In addition, from his own general knowledge she was the heir to the Hyuuga clan therefore making the previous man whom she'd called father Hyuuga Hiashi. The most stick-up-the-ass Hyuuga you could ever know.

Naruto, always being one to break the awkward silence between the two spoke up first. "So...you're a Hyuuga?"

Her head quickly shot up...as she looked at Naruto, only to bring her gaze back down to the ground. "Y-yes...." She said. Naruto was a master at reading people and it was obvious that she had definite self-esteem issues to work out. He could tell that it was a fact just by looking at the way she stared at the ground. Call it a hunch but he could tell that Hinata was extremely nervous for some reason, which made it even more surprising to him when she spoke.

"A-ano.....but I've never seen anyone talk to father like that, weren't you scared of him?" Naruto grabbed his chin between his forefinger and his thumb.

"Well...a little, but you just got to know how to speak to them. No offense, but the Hyuuga are an extremely intimidating clan....if you don't know how to keep your cool around them." Hinata just nodded and returned her gaze to the ground. By this time the both of them were walking toward the front door along with the rest of the students, when Naruto stopped and said.

"Oh....wait you go ahead I've got to get something really quickly." Slowly the lavender-eyed girl nodded, her lower lip hanging a bit, and continued into the academy with the rest of the students.

As the last of the students said goodbye to their parents and went inside Naruto slipped off to a distant corner behind the school where no one could spot him. He came to a stop underneath a tree that cast a lengthy shadow that would do well and hide his presence. Hanging from a sturdy branch was a lone swing; there it stood gently moving in unison with every minuscule breeze that moved it.

There Naruto sat down.

"How long do you plan on following me?" Naruto said, looking further up into the branches of the large tree. There was a slight rustling of leaves when an Anbu Nin jumped down from the tree. He was wearing a tiger mask. If Naruto's memory served him correctly this was the same captain that he had seen in Ojii-san's office in the morning. Then the idea came to Naruto that gramps might have requested that they keep watch over him and report back if a problem were to arise. Naruto mentally sighed.

_'That is so like Ojii-san.' _He thought to himself. "Well if you're not going to answer me then I'll just assume that The Third sent you, correct?" The tiger-faced Anbu just nodded.

"For what reason...?" On that question, the mask Nin reached into one of the pockets that were strewn about his gray vest and pulled out a small red scroll that Naruto himself knew as a message from the Sandaime. Naruto stuck his hand out and the scroll made the transition from the Anbu's hand to Naruto's much smaller hand.

The Anbu spoke up. "He told me that you needed to sign this before you entered for your first day at the academy. It is a proposal, for you to join the Anbu by next year when you graduate and become a Genin. For this to work you'll need to sign this before the proposal is made and in about a year's time after much negotiations with the council you will be admitted to join the Anbu." Naruto raised an eyebrow; it was obvious that Ojii-san planned for this to happen. It was strangely odd that this person said that it would take a year for the whole process to be over and done with and what do you know Naruto was now entering his first _year_ as an academy student.

"Hmm-....." Naruto chuckled, "-...tell Ojii-san that I said, no"

The Anbu's head suddenly flickered up in shock. "What do you mean no, Naruto-san you're passing up a chance that rarely comes to those around your age. It wouldn't be wise to pass up a chance of this much value and rarity."

"Listen...uhh what's your name?"

"Yuuji Saito, My name's Saito...why?"

"Listen Saito, rarity or not me becoming an Anbu member is up to me and me only. Even though am already able to join the Anbu squads as I am now, I simply have no interest in joining. And I doubt that getting the council to pass me into the Anbu Black Ops will not be as easy as you have just now stated. In reality I don't feel like dealing with the hassle and bullshit that I know the council, both shinobi and citizen alike, will so generously hand me."

"Do you honestly feel that way?"

"Yes...I'm not interested." Naruto then handed him the red scroll back, which Saito slipped back into the pocket from whence it came. "But tell Ojii-san that to save that proposal, in the future I might be interested."

"Understood." Saito said with a curt bow. "You really are the real deal; hopefully in the future I may have the privilege of working with you on my squad."

"Maybe." Naruto responded. With that the Anbu captain disappeared. Without a trace, no leaves, no wind, no smoke, nothing at all. He just disappeared. "How do they do that, I might consider joining just so I can learn how the hell they do that."

Naruto then hopped off the swing and walked back to the front of the academy. He couldn't believe that it was his first day and that he was already late....

xxxXXXxxx (One year later)

Naruto let out an exasperated sigh as he stared aimlessly into the distance the window had to his delight, provided for him. He was staring out the window of his classroom and he was seriously bored with this place. He had wasted an entire year in this academy learning things that he had learned when he was seven. He found it useless to sit here in a class that gave him no challenge such as this one. Although this class proved to be 'interesting' at times, he still could not see the point in paying attention to things that, frankly, would do him no good in actual battle. At his level an enemy that he would encounter would with no doubt in his mind, require much more than academy taught tactics to defeat.

It just went to show a person exactly how strong Naruto was and how strong he led others to believe he was. For an entire year Naruto had stayed in the academy solely for the purpose of becoming a Genin, ad while he was here he hadn't shown anyone a bit of what he could really do. Every time he was called to demonstrate some low-level technique of some sort in front of the class he would always make sure that he would make sure that he always gave the instructors the required minimum that they had asked for.

In doing that, Naruto's ranking in the class always remained at a constant neutral zone. That was good enough for him.

"Naruto are you even paying attention?" Naruto looked in the general direction of the person's voice; he looked up to see his teacher, Umino Iruka. Over the course of this year Iruka had become in Naruto's eyes, a father figure. He was the only other person besides The Third that the blond ever was seen around; most of the time it was at Ichiraku's ramen shop or just walking around. Iruka unlike everyone else actually saw him for who he was and not as the demon that destroyed the town.

"Yes, Iruka I'm paying attention."

"Oh really then would you demonstrate to the class what a proper henge of our Hokage would look like."

"Do I have to, I'd much rather just sit down." This comment earned the boy a series of suppressed chuckles made by the other kids in the class. As Naruto continued to look at Iruka, he noticed a vein popping put from the man's forehead. "You okay Iruka?"

"That's Iruka-sensei, Naruto! In here I am your teacher, now get your behind up here and do what I asked you to!"

"Fine, Iruka...ah.... Iruka-sensei." Naruto slowly got up to the front of the class. He paused for a moment, taking the time to look at the children whom he was forced to call classmates for an entire year. The faces of those whom he had taken a liking too, but then again there were some people here whom he couldn't stand. Naruto's eyes shifted to a certain black-haired Uchiha named Sasuke who was staring out the window much he was only a moment ago. Then his gaze scanned the room, going over each and every girl who had deemed themselves part of the Uchiha fan club then going over to the girl who declared herself president: Haruno Sakura.

He couldn't stand her; just the thought of how she fawned over the Uchiha was enough to sicken him. The pink haired girl was truly desperate. But just because there was one fan club didn't mean that Sasuke was the only one with admirers. Over the course of these many months Naruto himself had accumulated a fair amount of female attention that in his mind had the ability to compete with Sasuke's own admirers.

But just because he had fan girls didn't mean that he was particularly proud of the fact. His eyes then moved over to the girl who declared herself as president of his fan club. She had dark purple hair and white eyes, Hyuuga Hinata, he didn't hate her at all which is more than he could say for the other girls who had taken a liking to him. As he locked eyes with her, she shuddered and brought her head down to her fingers which she just so happened to be pressing together at the time.

"Well....Mr. Uzumaki?" Iruka said impatiently.

Naruto turned his head over to Iruka, and gave him a very grim glare which Iruka himself returned with a death glare of his own. It had become their thing, to glare at each other intensely when there was nothing serious it constantly reminded them of how close they actually were to each other; whether they knew it or not. "Hai, Iruka sensei!" Naruto said while making a single hand seal. A light haze of blue chakra enveloped his body and after a spontaneous generation of smoke, what was once Naruto had become a perfect copy of the Sandaime Hokage.

In the visage of the village head Naruto turned his head toward Iruka, the eyes of a wise man staring intensely at the Chuunin. "May I take my seat now?"

"OH....Naruto…well done, you can sit down...now." Iruka said, sounding slightly defeated due to the fact that Naruto had completely proven him wrong and was in fact paying attention. Well, at least that's what Naruto lead him to believe; henge were so easy for the boy that he really did not have to pay attention, things like that were second nature to Naruto.

"Thank you." Naruto said as he went back to his seat; on his way back he couldn't help but notice the many murmurs and whispers being made; most of which contained his name. Still, despite the great adulation flowing toward him, Naruto just sighed lazily and took his corner spot back at the window so that he may relax and tune Iruka out for the rest of the lesson. He would make it up to the man though; maybe some miso ramen after class would help settle his debt for not paying attention in class.

As Naruto's mind slowly slipped into the world of daydreams once more, Iruka's had reduced itself in his mind to little more than a smothered muffle, sounded like a person trying to speak underwater. Now Naruto was back in his peaceful place, where he could not be bothered, where he could not be perturbed, where no one could reach him.

Naruto jerked when he felt the odd sensation of someone jabbing him in his ribs. Maybe his peaceful place wasn't as impenetrable as he would've liked it to be.

Naruto turned and saw a girl with shoulder length jet-black hair and blue eyes looking at him; her elbow was slightly extended toward his ribcage indicating that she was the one who poked him. She wore a tan ninja-training shirt underneath a faded black jacket that was tightly suited to accentuate her body. On her lower body she sported a pair of ninja training pants that were identical in color to her shirt, those two were tightly suited. Her pale skin seemed to go in conjunction with her hair and eyes; this was an odd combination gave her what Naruto would label as 'slightly refined facial features', saying that she was pretty would be horribly tautological and quite frankly, the understatement of the century.

"Naruto.....did you not just get in trouble for daydreaming?" She whispered.

"Aw...come on Sanae, you know that I don't have to pay attention in this class." Naruto said with a disarming smile. He knew this girl as Fumina Sanae. He had met her within the first week that he began the academy.

Naruto then heard another whisper come from behind him. "Yes you do, Naruto-kun, you'll fail if you don't pay attention." Naruto turned his head and saw behind him another girl. Her hair was dark as well but not black like Sanae's. It was more of a dark auburn that when in the right light could be considered red. She wore a light blue shirt that loosely draped over her body and dark navy blue ninja training pants. Her face was smaller and even more refined than Sanae's but it bore a stark resemblance to the black-haired girl. The only reason that such a resemblance was even present was solely based on the fact that this was Sanae sister.

Her name was Konoe. Naruto met her around the same time he met Sanae, seeing as how they were always together and just like her sister Sanae, Naruto had become great friends with Konoe as well. To say that Naruto had become friends with them was an understatement, he had become...attracted to them both in a wasn't the type of attraction that everyone who saw them would think of, but its not like there was no reason to be attracted to them. Half of the guys in Naruto's class were attracted to them both; the two sisters' beauty had made them into daily eye candy for most of the other male students.

Sure they were pretty but that was not the only reason that Naruto was attracted them. While not one of the clans known for their outstanding strength or Kekkei Genkai, the Fuminas were known, however, for their extreme cunning and wit. They were not as strong as clans like the Hyuuga were or Uchiha were but they certainly made up for their physical impediments with their extreme intelligence.

Fuminas were extremely smart; one example of their wiles would be during the Great Shinobi War where the battle Tactics of a Fumina led Konoha to victory against opposing Iwa forces. The end result of that battle was a dangerous depletion of the Iwa's forces that ended up with them losing up to half of their entire military. It would be a sin to say that a Fumina wasn't intelligent.

It was not only their looks that Naruto liked about them but their Fumina wit as well. Like him they strove to think in the most logical way possible and did not settle to leave anything unanswered. It was what he enjoyed about their presence; the fact that they were like him. While they were not like him when it came to strength, for he was many times stronger than they were, they were like him when it came to their minds. In other words, they were geniuses and Naruto had always liked to surround himself with those who were similar to him.

"No I won't Konoe-chan; this class is way too easy to fail. Too bad Sanae-chan here doesn't see that." Naruto was suddenly assaulted by the intense feeling of another nudge to the ribs.

"I told you not to add the 'chan' to my name you idiot. You know how much I hate it" Sanae said in a barely suppressed whisper.

"Aww, but it makes you angry when I say that and you're cute when you're angry." Sanae said nothing and inched her head back a few inches, an intense blush staining her face a bright red. Konoe couldn't help but giggle at this...well that is until her sister gave her a patented Naruto death glare. Naruto always knew how to get inside of Sanae's head, for such an outstanding genius the girl was also an outstanding prude as well!

"HEY PAY ATTENTION!" Instantly all three of their snapped towards the sound of the loud voice, which was a very irritated Iruka. "Naruto, Sanae, Konoe....do you intend on talking this entire class? What I'm about to say if of great importance so you MUST pay attention, understood?"

"Hai...Iruka-sensei." Naruto said, answering for all of three of them.

Iruka nodded and turned his gaze back to the rest of the class. He brought his two hands and while making a fist with one hand his other hand was left open; he the suddenly brought them together. "Class, as you all know today is the day of the advancement exam." This comment stirred up a multitude of groans and moans from the rest of the class, with the exception of a few well-behaved students. "I know, settle down, it's not that serious. It's simple."

A hand sign and behind appeared two small wooden tables and on top of the tables were rows of Hitae-ites or ninja headbands all engraved with the Konoha symbol and shining brightly, indicating that had just been burnished. Iruka turned and allowed his arm to sway out toward the two tables.

"These headbands are what you will be aiming for; if you pass you will each receive one Hitae-ite indicating that you have become official ninja of Konoha. The exam itself is simple really, I will call you up here one by one and I will ask you to do three things: One, make a decent henge of me or Mizuki-sensei who will be here shortly; two, make a total of three stable Bunshin; and three....," Iruka then smiled," the third thing that you will have to do in order to become official nin of Konoha is walk past me and take your Hitae-ite."

Iruka smiled when he saw the bright smiles of his students and heard there excited voices. Some of them even got so excited that they stood up, saying that they wanted to be the first to go. But Iruka denied, telling them wait.

"The exam will not begin now, however." Iruka's smiled grew wider when heard his class cry out 'Aww', again with the exception of the more well behaved students in the class. "Don't worry, we have to wait for Mizuki to return, therefore I will allot you all a small break period of fifteen minutes. Be back in class by then; hey and don't take this break lightly you could use this to your advantage. Perhaps these fifteen minutes could give you all a little time to prepare for the exam. Other than that you are dismissed."

With that all of the students jumped up, some louder than others, and began leaving the classroom.

Naruto then felt the terrible sensation of Sanae's elbow in his ribs once more. "This will be fun won't it?"

Naruto nodded. "Nah, I don't think it will, things like this usually bore me to death." He then smiled at the scowl the made its way onto Sanae's face but grimaced when he felt another dull pain enter his ribs on his opposite side. He turned to see Konoe standing there.

"Well they only bore you because you don't know how to have fun."

Already tired of this interminable assault of elbow nudges Naruto sighed. "Whatever let's just leave." He said as he walked out of the classroom, holding both sides of his ribs. Both girls both giggled and slapped hands, following him out of the room. It seems as if they had succeeded in successfully 'ticking' Naruto off with the elbow nudging which they both knew was one thing he hated, which was the reason they did it so much.

xxxXXXxxx

Naruto sat on the sturdy branch of his usual tree with a swing on it. Ever since his first day at the academy, it had become his 'spot'; the type of place that allowed him to think peacefully to himself. But inner thoughts did not seem like options for him right now.

"Come on!" Sanae said, grabbing hold of Naruto's arm and trying to pull him off his branch. She was currently standing on the side of a tree trying to pull Naruto down. Even though they were not up to his level yet, the Fumina sisters were enamored with the knowledge of techniques that were well beyond academy level, for example the technique of tree walking that Sanae had been using to follow Naruto up his tree and bug him for what seemed in his mind as an interminable amount of time.

"We've got fifteen minutes, so spar with us." Sanae urged to which Naruto just shook his head, since his beginning days at the academy Sanae had always wanted to spar with Naruto but he always denied. She was just...too below him.

"No, I don't feel like it so stop bugging me."

"Why?"

"Because I said so." Naruto responded. If he had actually told them the truth behind his reasons for not fighting them, and mentioned that if Sanae were to fight him she would be fighting someone who had trained almost everyday of his life with the Hokage of the village since he was about seven. She probably wouldn't be so eager to have a bout with him then.

As Sanae gave Naruto's one final tug but sighed when he did not budge. She let go, but before she could get halfway down the tree, she let out a startled squeak as she felt something land on top of her, knocking her down only for her to land flat on her stomach. When she hit the ground and turned her head, she saw Naruto sitting right on top of her.

There was a certain sly look in his eye that made her feel suddenly uncomfortable. She felt even more on-edge when he leaned in closer to her face. "You, instead of sparring how about we do something else....eh, Sanae-chan?" The tone in which he spoke brought fire to Sanae's face as she blushed.

"Y-You know that I don't like i-it when you c-call me 'chan'" She said, her speech chopped into bits and pieces.

"Oh really, then how about this?" Sanae's eyes widened when he felt Naruto's hand slowly slide down the side of her rib and move up toward her chest. Under Naruto's weight, which he held back a bit, Sanae squirmed and struggled in an attempt to free her body.

"N-Naruto, what a-are you doing?"

"Oh nothing." He said sliding his fingers across the base of her C-cup sized chest; much to his pleasure Sanae did nothing but let out a small squeaky moan. But it was not like she could do anything else; Naruto had her pinned and playing the part of the victim.

"Naruto...stop…you pervert."

"I'm not a pervert, I just felt like getting my revenge on you; you bug me, I make you feel uncomfortable." He leaned in even closer. "Now is that not that fair?" Naruto moved in closer but jerked back when he felt the structure of a foot jam itself into his ribs.

"Naruto, what are you doing, I don't want you touching my sister in any weird places you perv." Naruto looked up, while rubbing his side; that one was going to leave a mark.

"Again with this perv thing, I am not a pervert, I just felt like getting your sister back for bugging me." Konoe looked at Naruto skeptically, but dismissed it as nothing important. But it is not like things like this didn't happen often, they happened all the time; Sanae would bug Naruto then Naruto would get her back by attacking the prude within her and him doing something that he did not count as perverted but rather as revenge. Therefore, over time Konoe had become sort of the guardian who always stopped Naruto from exacting too much 'revenge' on her sister.

However, being as perceptive as he was Naruto quickly became fully aware of why she always played this role. It was simple, she obviously held certain feelings of affection for Naruto as well but she just did a better job of hiding it. Maybe the only reason Konoe stopped Naruto all the time was that she felt jealous from all of the attention that Naruto usually gave Sanae whenever she bugged him.

Naruto raised himself off the ground, dusting himself off. Well if you plan on bugging me then what is it that you propose that we should do in...." he looked at the position of the sun in the sky, "... the ten minutes we have left."

Both girls shrugged. "Well then bye!" Said Naruto as his body began to fade a way into nothing until there was in fact nothing standing in his place.

With wide eyes both girls looked at each other, shocked at how easily Naruto had bamboozled them with a mere bunshin. Whether he had switched with the clone before they found him or during their 'conversation' they did not know. Then a thought came to Konoe that made her angle her head and rested it on the palm of her hand.

She turned to Sanae. "Hey Sanae, if those were just bunshin then how come it could touch you and why was I able to kick." Sanae herself then adopted the same thinking pose as her sister.

"Wait, yeah now that I think about it, that clone felt real....but it was still a clone, wasn't it?" Both sisters stood frozen, pondering on the question of just what it was that Naruto did to his bunshin to make them physically able to touch.

"We've got to find Naruto, and fast!" Konoe said dashing off, soon to be followed by her sister who yelled something that sounded like 'wait up'.

xxXXXxx

Naruto smiled as he got the mental information that his clone relayed to him. That was a good thing about his clones; if they were to do something like train or learn a new technique, the real Naruto would get that mental information relayed back to him and he would know that technique or have that experience from training.

But maybe using shadow clones was a bit too much, especially since it was around the Fumina sisters. They probably wouldn't even notice, but considering how smart they were, Naruto would not be surprised if they had questioned him about his abnormal clones, still it was always nice to mess with them.

A brief breeze brushed the back of his neck as he stood up, there was about ten minutes in his break left and he had no way to spend it. He jumped down, descending onto the ground from a random rooftop that he had for some reason decided would be relaxation spot for the day and while coming down he saw a certain raven-haired boy whom he had come to dislike.

Sasuke was running down the road, with almost all his strength....as if he was being pursued by someone.

"Uchiha-teme, what the hell are you running from?" But to Naruto's displeasure the boy just ran past him without so much as a word. "Well that was rude.....uh....?" Naruto looked down; about three seconds after Sasuke had past him a low vibrating rumble began sound down the street where Sasuke had just come from.

On the ground, tiny pebbles danced vigorously from the vibration of the rumble; Naruto looked to his left and his eyes pulled themselves open in pure terror as he realized that he was now looking at a huge cloud of dust being kicked up by an even larger mob of.....girls?

Naruto's stomach sunk at the site and his face paled; he wasn't looking at girls, no he was looking at something much more dangerous.......fan girls.

As they got closer, Naruto could not move, frozen like a block of ice. Then he heard one of them say:

"Hey guys look...we got lucky, look at who is in front of us, we can take him and Sasuke." Naruto's eyes widened when all the girls locked onto him and he glanced to his right and could see Sasuke still running down the street.

"Oh shit!" Naruto said as he realized exactly what was about to occur; he did the only thing that he could do at the time and ran....for his life, taking flight in an attempt to catch up with Sasuke.

"NARUTOOOO!" He grimace as he heard the mob of love-struck females yell his name just as they were yelling Sasuke's but mere seconds ago. Still Naruto ran...and in about ten seconds, he caught up with Sasuke, positioning himself right next to the Uchiha.

"What the hell happened?' Naruto asked Sasuke, having to raise his voice over the many loud yells and squeals made by their pursuing fan girls.

"Nothing, you Dobe....I was just walking around and they found me." While in his mobile position, Naruto slapped his forehead.

"You idiot, just walking around? Listen teme, for future reference, you never EVER just walk around when you have fan girls. Next time if you want to just walk around make sure that your walking around the rooftops where they can't get you...understood?" Naruto scowled when Sasuke just nodded and turned back to the street in front of them.

This was most unfortunate, now he was involved. What was supposed to be a simple fifteen minutes of tranquility had turned into the most intense and possibly last fifteen minutes of his virgin life? Who knew what they would do if they ever caught him or Sasuke, which was highly unlikely?

Naruto could have lost the girls on both he and Sasuke's tails but it was kind of fun seeing the look of pure terror on his face. To think that this was the first time Naruto had ever been chased by his own fan girls; it was fun, he didn't even remember why he had spent his entire academy year cleverly evading them, this was in fact a rush.

Naruto looked into the sky once more; the sun had slightly shifted. That gave him about seven minutes. "Sasuke... do you think that you can keep this up for seven more minutes?" He asked in a loud voice.

"Sasuke merely nodded once more, then swallowed hard; perhaps he was trying to force down the mass of weakness trying to surface itself in the form of fatigue. In other words, it looked as if Sasuke had been running for quite some time now. But Naruto decided not to ask exactly how long and went back to the task at hand.

xxXXXxx

Konoe walked back into class with her head leaning toward the ground. She felt defeated, she and Sanae had wasted so much time trying to look for Naruto and they didn't even find him.

"Damn, just where the hell is he?" She said in a low voice and she went to take her seat, which was directly behind Naruto's.

"Who knows, he might be trying to avoid us, he might be running from us." Sanae said, sitting down in her seat with an equally lugubrious expression on her face. (Nope he's running from his fan girls right now)

"No way, he wouldn't do that...would he?" Konoe said sounding a bit unsure about her words.

Both girls let out a sigh; it took sometime but after sighing, they both noticed something. That almost all of the students that had returned early to class were male. Feeling a bit uncomfortable with the lack of female presence Sanae decided to ask her question into the air.

"Hey....where are the rest of the girls, we there is only one minute left in the break." One of the boys in the room answered her back.

"Who knows they are probably off chasing their Sasuke-kun somewhere on the premises." He had dark brown eyes with gravity defying hair that stood up and resembled the outline of a pineapple.

"And how do you know that Shikamaru?" Nara Shikamaru, another class genius. He along with her, Naruto, and her sister was one of the smartest kids in the class, however, unlike her Shikamaru had preferred to do nothing with his amazing brainpower. A lazy genius indeed.

"C'mon do honestly think that those love-crazed girls have something else better to do in fifteen minutes than pursue their dream boy?" It did make sense, so she nodded at the lazy boy's answer.

"Yeah your right I guess it makes sense."

A low rumble came from outside the classroom door. Upon hearing this Sanae knew exactly what was about to happen, which was what happened all the time. Sasuke would come busting in with a mob of girls behind him and then a huge dispute over who would get to 'claim' the boy would arise, causing a ruckus in the classroom.

That's what she expected, however what she saw was completely different; when the double doors of the class blew open, not only did Sasuke come rushing in but Naruto flew in as well, and as expected in came a huge chunk of the female portion of the class behind them. They yelled they screamed and they argued not only over Sasuke but Naruto as well, Sanae had never noticed it before but Naruto also had attracted a lot of female attention, more than she ever bothered to comment on.

A tight compact ball formed in Sanae's stomach as she watched her friend get argued over by the many girls, what was this feeling; jealousy perhaps? No way, why would she be jealous if a bunch of girls were to fight over Naruto? She looked over to her sister Konoe and saw that she too watched Naruto as his fan girls groped and tugged at him; her face graced with a mask of intensity.

The tight ball loosened a bit in her stomach when she saw Naruto drag himself out of a sea of cheerful fan girls and she was hit with a warm sensation of relief, mostly because Naruto had come out untouched.

But why she was feeling relief at this confused her even more, which added to the already deep pool of unease and potential jealousy that lie deep within her mind. When Naruto flashed her a brilliant smile and wave, Sanae's face lit up like light bulb, but she quickly retreated to her usual expression as she found herself blushing from her reaction to Naruto.

Slowly, Sanae looked at Konoe who had one eyebrow raised with a certain glint in her eye that made her wonder just what it was that was going through her mind.

Before she knew it, Naruto had walked up to them and Sanae found herself staring down at the floor.

"Sanae-chan..." Sanae twitched at the mention of the word 'chan' but continued to stare at the ground, not saying a word. "....you okay, you look a bit disturbed." Naruto said, taking his seat next to her causing the girl to move over just a tad to the right and away from Naruto.

The tight ball came back, this time pulling even harder. Every time Sanae thought of something and tried to get it out of her mouth the ball would end up dragging those words back down into her stomach, leaving her unable to speak.

_'What's wrong with me...why am I...acting like this? Was it...because of what happened...?" _Her face flushed when she thought of what it was that Naruto....no, Naruto's clone had done to her under the tree.

"Hey you okay....Sanae?"

"Yeah she's okay." Konoe had cut in, drawing in Naruto's attention onto herself. "Never mind her though...I want to ask you something. Under the tree during the break, your clone....why was it able to touch Sanae?" Naruto's eyes widened, but he smiled afterwards.

"Hm, I anticipated something like this; if you must know then I'll tell." He motioned for them both to come closer and leaned in himself. When the three of them were close enough he began to speak. "He was not just bunshin....the only reason that he could touch you and you could him was because he was a Kage bunshin." He said this in a low and barely inaudible whisper.

With wide eyes, Sanae and Konoe both retreated with shocked expressions. Konoe was the first to lean back in.

"Wait, but that is a Jonin level technique." She said.

"Ah, Konoe-chan, beautiful and intelligent as ever; I'm not surprised that you are aware of the level of that technique; just wait, let us save this talk for after the exam and then will I tell you everything, the both of you. Okay?" Both girls nodded and Konoe leaned back... into her seat to await Iruka and Mizuki's arrival.

The entire time Konoe's face was sanguine and heated; most likely from that last comment made by Naruto saying that she was beautiful.

The loud arguing and fighting over Sasuke had subsided, leaving everyone to seat themselves and settle down. Naruto cringed as he looked at the aftermath of a person who was once Sasuke; he sat alone and with a blank expression on his face. The face of the violated and touched...an expression ever since he had begun the academy he had grown accustomed to. It seemed as if everyday Sasuke had this expression plastered on his face, all because of the fan girls that attempted to toady him everyday. It was not the first time Naruto had seen Sasuke like this after being chased by his fan girls and he doubted that it would be the last.

Then Naruto thought to himself about how different his reaction was compared to Sasuke's. Naruto had avoided his own fan girls up until now, and in his mind, it was not as bad a Sasuke made it seem. The blank and scared expression on the Sasuke's face brought a curl to the young blond Nin's lips....it was always fun to see that stick-up-the-ass Uchiha with that expression on his face.

Two loud sounds suddenly filled the room, causing everyone to turn their heads and standing in front of the two wooden tables holding Hitae-ite were the two class instructors Iruka and Mizuki.

The two Chuunin had their arms folded, with both large smiles and bright eyes.

"OK, listen up I won't waste any time so take your seats." The class followed accordingly which made Iruka nod. "Good, now the rules are simple, all you have to do is come up to either me or Mizuki and do what I have instructed for you to do." Iruka then shifted his gaze onto Mizuki. "Anything else that you would like to add?"

Mizuki, a tall man who had silver hair and a jaunty expression on his face, angled his chin up toward the ceiling in a thinking pose. Then brought it back down. "Well, I'll just tell you that we plan to have you come up two by two in order to quicken the pace....and let's just say that we have a little surprise for you at the end." He said with a smile.

Naruto watched Mizuki closely; there was something about the man that Naruto found to be suspicious, he couldn't completely put his finger on it but there was something about the Chuunin that made Naruto think that the man had something to hide. For a long time Naruto watched this man, yet nothing came up to affirm that Mizuki bore ill will toward anyone or anything in this village, so after a while Naruto stopped trying to look beneath the surface and just see Mizuki as an honest school instructor. He tried and failed, Naruto knew that there was something about Mizuki and he would find out, but for know only the exams mattered and not Mizuki's hidden motives.

"OK that's all," Iruka spoke up, "Then let's begin; we will call you up in alphabetical order......first up Aburame Shino."

Then Mizuki spoke. "Second to go, Akimichi Chouji, come to my table and get this exam over with."

Therefore, it began. Both Iruka and Mizuki began calling students up two by two. Naruto knew that having the last name Uzumaki meant that he would be one of the last ones to be called, but it didn't matter, it was fun to watch some of the pathetic excuses for bunshin and henge that some of the class produced.

As expected when Konoe and Sanae were called they performed well above Iruka and Mizuki's expectations, each of them making not three but ten stable bunshin appear and then going on to produce two perfect copies of Iruka and Mizuki. And although Naruto felt that their display of skill was a bit ostentatious he still prided himself with the fact that like him those two were true geniuses.

It took little over twenty minutes to get to the last two people, him and Sasuke.

"Uchiha Sasuke." Mizuki said.

"Uzumaki Naruto." Iruka said. Both boys stood up, walking to the front of the room with the rest of the class to their backs.

Standing almost shoulder to shoulder they both looked at each other and when Naruto locked eyed with Sasuke he no longer saw the blank languid eyes of one who had just been violated instead he saw the eyes of an Uchiha trying to prove himself. That was good, that's what Naruto wanted to see; fire, however it was a shame that it had to be Naruto who doused the flames burning within Sasuke...well actually it wasn't all that bad at all.

"Naruto you both know the drill." Iruka said.

Naruto and Sasuke nodded and they both made a hands seal. In unison, the two cried out.

"Bunshin no jutsu!" A dim haze of chakra surrounded the both of them and it flickered about; in less then three seconds the class was staring at twenty Narutos and Sasukes combined. The rest of the kids all gasped in awe at the amount of ease at which both boys produced the technique

Iruka and Mizuki however stayed silent, a slight angle bent the sides of Iruka's mouth. "That was good.....a bit pretentious…but good. Onto the next portion; make a henge of me and Mizuki."

Naruto mentally sighed; this exam was almost getting too easy. He glanced once more at Sasuke before dispelling his clones; Sasuke himself did the same. Again they both made a single hand seal.....and in unison they said.

"Henge no jutsu." There was a generation of smoke and before they knew it, Iruka and Mizuki were seeing double as they both gazed into their own eyes. Both instructors took a step back out of shock.

"Wow...Naruto, Sasuke.....you-you pass!" Iruka said.

"Right you have....go on and claim you headbands, the both of you." Mizuki added in.

With the said Naruto and Sasuke both walked up to, claimed their Hitae-ites from the wooden table, and went to take their seats.

When he sat down, Naruto felt someone tap him and he turned only to come face to face with a smiling Konoe who gave him a thumb up simply chuckled and turned back to Iruka and Mizuki, but not before giving Sasuke a quick glance.

"Good" Iruka said while clapping his hands, the sound was intensified by the walls of the classroom. "Now that the advancement exam is over we can move on to the next and final portion of the day." He swayed his arm over to Mizuki who then took over the reigns.

"Now-" Mizuki began. "-if you all remember, I said that there was a little surprise at the end for you all. Well, get ready because......-" An awkward silence settled in the room, most of the kids were literally on the edge of their seats. "-....today is you last day here as students and tomorrow you all will be assigned new sensei!"

This comment drew a rather unexpected reaction form the class. Silence, nothing but silence could be heard as the students now turned Genin said nothing. It was a delayed reaction but Iruka for some reason felt a pang of relief when he heard almost all of his students yell out 'what!'. He was expecting that reaction.

"I know, I know....since you are all now Genin you no longer need to stay here and learn about the basics, because...well you already know them! Meet here tomorrow in the morning and then you will all be assigned to you new Jonin sensei. You are all dismissed."

Naruto, along with everyone else stood up and left, leaving their former Chuunin sensei to talk among themselves.

xxxxxx

It could be said that at this very moment Naruto was...upbeat. He was now a Genin, but unfortunately, he knew what being a Genin would mean. It would mean that he would now be pressured even more than he already was to become an Anbu member.

As Naruto walked down the streets to his destination, which was the Hokage tower, he ignored the stares and glare coming from the many merchants and street vendors who were aware of his condition. Not even they could penetrate the solid wall of concentration that he had set up in his mind.

All he could focus on right now was what exactly he was going to say to Ojii-san once he got there; he was fully aware that the Sandaime greatly wished for him to join the Anbu and that he being an official Genin now meant that he was now of official ninja rank. And according to the rule of Anbu admission, 'any ninja of any rank was eligible to become an Anbu.' The whole idea of Jonin only being able to become Anbu was just a lie; that false dogma had only risen because getting into the Anbu was so freaking hard that usually only Jonin tried.

Knowing this Naruto grimaced heavily, not wanting to think about the most likely uncomfortable conversation that the two would most likely have. At times like this Naruto had actually wished that Sanae or even Konoe were here to bug him and keep his mind off of the awkward topic that kept poking him in the back of his head.

xxXXxx (Hokage's office)

As sighed heavily as he entered his surrogate grandfather's office. The old man looked up from behind a small mountain of papers and smiled.

"Ah, Naruto-kun you have returned, I assume that the advancement exam was today, did you pass?" Naruto raised an eyebrow before he pulled up a seat from the corner of the room and sat down in front of the Hokage.

He crossed his arms. "What do you mean you assume, you're the Hokage for Pete's sake Ojii-san, you don't assume stuff like this, you already know it. And come now, do you really think that I could ever fail a test that easy, that's an insult to me! That test was way below my level."

"I only jest Naruto-kun, I'm well aware of your ability." He said with a slight chuckle.

"Yeah I know but it's always fun to play along." Naruto said responding with a bright smile. There was a brief pause and the both of them then burst out in a unified bit of laughter. It was always fun to share a laugh with Ojii-san every now and then; not many people could say that they hung out with the Hokage of the village. It was just one of the many perquisites that came with being who he was; maybe the Sandaime was one of the reasons why Naruto had decided to stay in this village.

Sarutobi's face then suddenly shifted to an expression of seriousness; upon seeing this Naruto quickly mimicked his action. The old man then arched his back forward, while placing his elbows his desk and resting his head on the backside of his palms. Naruto always found it surprising at how Ojii-san could switch between moods so easily.

"Naruto-kun, now I'm sure you already know what I'm about to say."

Naruto mentally sighed, throwing his gaze down at the floor. "Yes, I know." He responded quietly. Naruto then looked back up at Sarutobi. "But, is it really a matter so important that it should be pressed onto to me like this?"

Sarutobi sighed. "Naruto-kun, you know that I only want the best for you and I want to see you succeed. This chance could release you from the life you are living now. But if you, feel as though you should not accept this issue that I've presented to you before then....by all means I will not stop you; let it be as you say Naruto-kun."

Now Naruto was put out of his comfort zone, whenever Ojii-san wanted him to do something he would always ask Naruto in ways that he considered being sly and cunning. It greatly disturbed him at how adept the old man was at appealing to his conscience but what more could you expect from the village Hokage. As kind and gentle as he was, he was also manipulative and clever.

Naruto swallowed down the lump beginning to from at the base of his throat. "Do you really want me to join the Anbu that badly?" Naruto asked.

"Indeed I do Naruto-kun. That offer I made you last year on your first day at the academy, I did not make it because I _thought _you would prove to be a great contribution to the Anbu Black Ops but because I _knew _you would. But like I said before, it is up to you." Again with that cleverness of his.

Naruto looked Sarutobi dead in the eye. It was always like this; they would have a serious conversation and Sarutobi would ask something of Naruto. And as much as he did want to Naruto was always the one who ended up caving in first, it was something he hated about being under the wise stare of the Hokage and he berated himself for it.

Sarutobi cleared his throat just a bit too loudly, letting Naruto know that he was getting impatient with the boy's stalling. "I-..." the pressure began to build and Naruto feared that history would repeat itself and that he would end up saying something that he really didn't want to."-....I'll join" Naruto said in one sudden voice. He mentally cursed himself for being so weak; but he would not give in without leaving behind his mark. "..But", Naruto said continuing on in a smooth and restricted voice. "I will only join if I am allowed to do one thing."

Sarutobi smiled, knowing that he had already won the battle, nothing Naruto could say would be enough too get this smile off of his face. "What is it?" He said, sounding slightly content with the world, his smile still beam; like a white arch of light.

"Give me permission to show my true ability from now on." Sarutobi's eyes widened and the smile faded and along with it the arch of light returned to nothing, he was wrong, there was something that Naruto could say."

"What...Naruto-kun are you insane? Are you aware of the social implications that doing something like that would bring you?"

"Yes I am....however, if you decline and do not allow me to do as I please then the Anbu will be nothing but a thing of the past." The creases on Sarutobi's forehead resurfaced as he was suddenly caught in a deep train of thought.

_'Hm, perhaps I have taught him too well_?_ He fooled me into fulfilling his wish in return for him fulfilling my wish, clever. Does he even know the reason why I set the law that forbids citizens and shinobi alike from uttering a word about the Kyuubi? If I allow him to show his power then it can only lead to one of two things. Either people recognize him for his strength or they do the exact opposite and shun him out of fear of a growing influence made by Kyuubi. But this is what he wants; Naruto I'm swimming out into dangerous waters by allowing you to do this...but" _

Sarutobi looked up at Naruto, and smiled. "Ok Naruto-kun you win, if you join the Anbu you will be allowed to display your power to the public. But rest assure you will have plenty of time to show what you are made out of, for as you know the entire process of applying someone as an Anbu member will take an immense amount of time. Most likely up to a year's time, I wanted you to take the offer last year so that by tomorrow you would have been able to start you duty as an active Anbu member. Unfortunately, you declined; feel secure because you now have a year's time to wait until you become Anbu. So enjoy it."

Naruto nodded happily as he quickly stood up and upon looking at the boy's optimistic demeanor Sarutobi grumbled. He really had taught Naruto too well, the boy was already intelligent enough as he was, add the logic of a Hokage and you've got a problem on your hands.

"Thank-you Ojii-san, I greatly appreciate it." Naruto said as he got up, a small curl bending the sides of his lips. "I'll report to you after I meet my Jonin tomorrow, but I'm guessing that you already know who that person is." He left with a curt bow and walked outside of the office.

A smile on his face, knowing that he had finally been allowed to show his ability as he pleased in the village without consequence. He would no longer have to keep up the facade of the Kyuubi boy with average skills, he would know be known as the genius boy with the Kyuubi sealed inside of him. It was a future that he greatly looked forward to and the thought of such a future carried him in good spirit all the way to his small apartment where he stopped at the door.

"Tomorrow is a new day." He said while making a reach for the knob and opened his door. He turned back and glanced at the sky; the ominous twilight looked different today. The skyline was a shining bright red, as if Kami's hand had just swept over it with a fresh coat of paint. Who knew, maybe in the morning the paint would dry and the skyline's color would deepen so that when he woke up the next morning he would be able to gaze upon his very own crimson dawn.

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Wow, um I am finally done with this thing here. Tell me what you think, give me the good points, and give me the bad points. Remember for those of you who have read my other story you know how I feel about stuff like this. I will tolerate harsh criticism but not unnecessary insults.

Now like I want all people I want REVIEWS so help me out you have just finished reading this then I want you to click that giant rectangular button on bottom of the page that says Review This Story/Chapter in big green letters. I want to get as many reviews as possible with this first chapter, like seriously do it, it does not even have to be a long one, just a simple "awesome story" or "a few errors but okay" would suffice.

Thanx

Um, since this is the first chapter my author's note is not that long but they will get longer...much longer.

Latr

Next chapter: Training Tactics

GrIm'S sTePpIn' OuT


	2. Training Tactics

Hey....ummm, yeah this is my second chapter of my newest story, Crimson Dawn Uzumaki Naruto, well I hope that you were all pleased with the first chapter, because like it or not you'll be moving on. Moving on to a bigger and even better chapter. There is not really that much I can say, except for I will now be going a bit more into the story. I recently got some feedback asking why this story was in the Naruhina section when there wasn't that much Naruhina in it. Well you'll find out why in this chapter, so to all of you who wanted an answer... here it is in plain black and white.

Just like my first story I plan to make this story moderately lengthy so you can look forward to reading this for a long time in the future. And I know it might be a bit annoying but I still want reviews, like seriously give me some feedback I want responses, opinions and all that good $#!%.

Okay so that's it for now; I would put a disclaimer saying that I don't own this show but come on that's obvious.

Ok enjoy or you will pay. About $67.39 thank you (don't know why I picked that much money, I could have just said like twenty bucks or something like that.)

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Crimson Dawn: Uzumaki Naruto

Once again Naruto began his day on his rooftop, just like the one before. He stood, pajamas and all; basking in the warm light of the sun. As of now his gaze was centered at the sky. Based off what he had seen yesterday, he was wrong. The sky hadn't deepened into crimson, it just looked normal. Not that normal wasn't good and all, it just meant that the day would be boring to say the least. He first noticed it when he felt the lack of commotion; there was nobody here who wanted to kill him today. It was strange but, Naruto always looked forward to seeing the unconscious faces of those random Nin who always tried to exterminate him and the lack of their presence made him feel uneasy.

He lowered his gaze down onto the great stone faced that he had come to admire so much; as usual they held that same rugged brilliance that made them shine with artificial luster.

Maybe the day wouldn't be as boring as he had thought it would be. His eyes then settled onto the the stone Hokage face that was set all the way onto the fat right. The man with spiky wild hair, the fourth Hokage. Naruto then brought his hand and ran it through it through his own unruly golden locks; his eyes never left the fourth's face. It was just too much of a coincidence that he resembled the fourth, it often bothered him how much they bore a resemblance to each other.

"Who are you?" Naruto uttered in a low tone before letting his hand fall back to his side. The wind then kick up as it usually did every morning, Naruto savored the crisp feel of the wind caressing his body, he especially enjoyed the 'breeze between his knees' that came with the light breeze.

The Yondaime was the one who sealed the Kyuubi into him; strangely he was perfectly fine with that, the only thing that bugged him was why he chose him out of all people. What could have driven the man to think that Uzumaki Naruto would be a good jail for the fox, despite the fact that Naruto actually was a good jail for the fox. It was a bit too much to think about and one of the very few things that Naruto found complicated; so he decided to drop it for the moment and just get back to his monument gazing.

But for some reason Naruto kept getting the feeling that someone was behind him, watching and waiting carefully; a silent predator waiting to kill its prey. However Naruto would never allow himself to be called prey, he would not become some lurking wolf's breakfast.

He first let out a sigh then, "Hey, how long do plan to just standing there and doing nothing?" At first was no response, for a second it seemed as if Naruto was talking to himself. But a millisecond before Naruto opened his mouth to follow up on his question, he heard a low chuckle followed by the sound of clapping.

His eyebrow rose into the shape of a boomerang as he heard the muffled voice the potential assailant.

"Hm, impressive; you're only a Genin and you sensed me so quickly. You know there are a lot of Jonin who wouldn't be able to sense me standing directly behind them like you did nor would they be able to sense anyone else in my faction for that matter.

"And what would that faction be?" Naruto asked with interest. He didn't bother to turn for he already knew the answer.

"Why, the Anbu Black Ops of course. It took you only four seconds for you to notice my presence, given that time at your age, I'd say that you're the real deal."

Naruto made a quick turn around and faced the man behind him. The first thing he noticed was that the man was considerably taller then he was, forcing him to look up. The second thing that he noticed was that this man was in fact an Anbu member; mask and all, and that he was wearing a wicked tiger mask. He labeled this man as the Anbu captain he had seen in Ojii-san's office last year; although he couldn't fully tell, but Naruto kept getting the feeling that the Anbu captain was smiling behind his animistic disguise.

"Well, now that we've established that I'm Uzumaki Naruto... Care to tell the reason for you arrival?"

"Ah, cutting right to the chase, I see. Well If you must know, I'm here to deliver to you a message."

"From... ," Naruto said crossing his arms.

"From The Third; seeing as how you will be joining the Anbu next year, our Hokage thought that it was a good idea to train with the Anbu from now own. With that being the case, I made a recommendation for you to join my team. I've seen the results of your work; that Jonin you brought us yesterday was proof of your skill. That was only a result of your power, but I want to witness it in action, with my own eyes. Therefore-," he paused for a moment and reached into one of his side pockets and pulled out a small black scroll, "I want to give you this."

He held the scroll out for Naruto to take, which he did. The boy then tore the paper seal and opened it horizontally; as expected the surface of the paper was riddled with what looked like directions to some unknown area. The myriad of text and apparent longueurs bored Naruto out of his mind by him just looking at the scroll.

"Directions?," he asked, "to where?"

The captain chuckled once more. "To the Anbu training ground of course, by the end of the day I want you to head to that location to meet me and the rest of my team."

Naruto's eyes widened a bit. "The rest of your team?"

"Well, if you're going to be part of this team then don't you think that it's a good idea to meet everyone?"

"Well, not necessarily, I mean..." Naruto was cut off when the tiger masked Anbu waved his hand in the air.

"Please don't answer that." He said with a light laugh. It was surprising to Naruto how much emotion this Anbu member was actually showing, a normal Anbu wouldn't show anything and just remain stoic and emotionless as expected by Anbu protocol. This guy must have been one of the stronger ones!

There was something that intrigued Naruto about this man, he couldn't quite put his finger on it but he knew that the man was strong, he would obviously make for an efficient teammate. It would e unwise for him not to take him up on his training offer.

"Ok, I won't answer that," he said as he looked scroll up and down. "Hm, training with the Anbu; no offense but considering that I have trained with the Hokage for six years... wouldn't that be a step down in my training?"

"None taken, I understand your concerns perfectly, however do not worry. We may not be as strong as the Hokage himself but we are close, I think that we will be enough to keep you on your toes." The captain said brushing off his shoulder.

"Fair enough... then it's set, after I meet with my Jonin I'll meet with you afterwards." The tiger faced mask dipped as the taller man gave Naruto a curt bow.

"Thank you, I hope you don't disappoint us." He said upon rising.

"I won't, oh and by the way, what's your name?"

"Yuuji Saito." Naruto then nodded and turned away with a satisfied sigh escaping his lungs. He glanced back and there was nobody standing where Saito just was.

"Dammit, how do they do that?" He said as he rolled the scroll back up and began walking back into his little apartment. He also made it a mental note to ask Saito exactly how Anbu just disappeared like that when he got to their first training session. But for now he figured that getting ready for his 'normal' life as a Genin would suffice.

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Naruto sniffed in a noseful of fresh air as he stepped up to the front gate of the Fumina compound. Although they weren't that powerful a clan as the Hyuugas or Uchihas, the Fuminas still had a family compound that was massive, even when compared to that of the other more powerful clans.

The brilliantly polished front gate towered over Naruto's short stature; lustrous mahogany gleaming from the sun's light. Naruto paused for a moment, to admire the wood; its sheen almost made the wood look as if its surface was wet.

"Geez, the Fumina's must be one insanely smart clan to be able to live in a place like this, their door just screams rich." Naruto brought his hand up to the dark wood and knocked three times, loudly.

There was no response at first, which made Naruto contemplate on whether or no he should knock again, but when he heard footsteps approaching he abandoned those thoughts. The double doors cracked open then fully swung open revealing the lush green expanse that was the Fumina courtyard. Wow the place really was huge, he never ceased to be amazed every time he saw.

Inside were a myriad of individual houses and homes, most of which had two or more floors. The inside of the manor was so large that there were even small individual roads run through the entire place. Of Naruto had seen this so many times before, but damn, it never stopped amazing him.

Naruto was pulled out of his trance of adulation when he noticed two slender women walk into view from behind the two massive doors. Both of them beautiful, red-haired and wearing two matching blue kimono's with black stripes. The watery color of their kimono's stick out in contrast to their bright red hair, it was almost comical how their heads stuck out so much. Naruto soon found himself wondering why they chose to wear such colors.

They both stopped in front of him, putting on two bright smiles. "Ah Naruto-san, how are you today?" They both said in perfect sync. It didn't surprise Naruto that the spoke simultaneously, considering that these women were twins, however, what did surprise Naruto was the amount of irony that went with the situation.

"Ah, I'm fine, Chigusa, Nagisa; and how are you doing today?"

"Fine," they both replied cheerfully, "Sanae-chan and Konoe-chan will be with you shortly why don't you come in and wait for them." Naruto nodded and walked past the two red heads. Who closed the doors behind him. In his mind he couldn't help but think that they were just naturally nice people; whether or not they knew of his status as Kyuubi's jail, he did not know. However, if they did know then they surely didn't let it show for they actually showed him kindness and compassion.

Not what he was used to.

"You can sit over there and we'll go fetch them." They said in unison, pointing to a bench near a miniature garden on a strip of grass. Naruto smiled and nodded, he then made his way over to the bench and took a seat. By the time he had sat down the two twins were gone, in search of Konoe and Sanae, leaving him to sit by himself.

Naruto leaned his head back against the bench, so that his eyes were angled toward the sky. For several minutes he sat there staring at the vast blue sea of air, his mind wondering to and fro on random subjects until it was brought back onto the subject of Nagisa and Chigusa and how they somehow spoke in unison seemingly all the time. He had heard of twin telepathy, but until now he hadn't believed that it existed.

"How do they do that?" He whispered to himself, just when a gentle breeze rolled in and he began to enjoy his moment of solitude.

"How does _who _do _what_?" Asked an unquestionably female voice. Right after he heard the voice a pretty brunette woman walked into his view; because of the way his head was positioned it looked to Naruto as if this lady's body was upside down.

"Ah, hello Fumina-san! I was just wondering how your two gatekeepers, Nagisa and Chigusa, have such syncopated speech." Naruto leaned forward so that he was in an upright position and turned so that his full view was on the woman in front of him. He noticed that the lady was wearing a decorative black and white Kimono with a red sash. She had long jet-black hair and blue eyes, just like her daughter Sanae. This was in fact Sanae and Konoe's mother, Mei Fumina. She was a nice woman whom Naruto had grown to become very fond of, and not just because of her ample bosom.

"Oh those two always do that, I'm still trying to figure out how they do it. Maybe if I was a red head like they are, they would tell me, don't you think?," she said with a warm smile which Naruto returned with one of his own. Well maybe being a red head might have solved it but unfortunately Mei wasn't born a natural red head, unlike all the other Fumina's were with the exception of her two daughters. The reason for her dark hair was that she was actually not actually a blood related Fumina, she just became one when she married into the clan.

That being the situation most people outside of the clan who did not know that Mei wasn't a real Fumina would always deem her as an anomaly inside the clan for not possessing the bright red hair that had come to be recognized as the Fumina trademark. It was a color that was passed down from generation to generation, similar to the Haruno clan which was known for having unnaturally pink hair... Even in their men.

"Um, are Sanae and Konoe ready yet?," Naruto suddenly asked.

Mei then crossed her arms, pushing up her large... assets which no doubt drew Naruto's attention to them; luckily she hadn't noticed. "Yes, when I left the main compound they were already dressed, they should be here shortly. But until they come, can I ask why you are in such a hurry?"

"Well, today IS the day that we all get to meet our Jonin senseis and I was a bit excited to meet them." Naruto replied.

"Oh, yes how could I have forgotten... you know," a sly look suddenly slid onto her face and she leaned in, accidentally giving Naruto a better view of her chest," Sanae and Konoe came home really excited yesterday, they kept talking about who their new sensei would be. And since they already know, they were wondering who would be on their Genin teams and I couldn't help but overhear them both mention that they really wanted _you_ to be with them."

Naruto, with his head inched away fought down the urge to blush; man if this was what Konoe and Sanae would look like in the future than he would have no problem being on their teams as Genin. He had always thought that Konoe and Sanae's mother was a bit too friendly with him; what was she trying to doing... hook him up with one of her daughters? Well, obviously, but Naruto still played along.

"Really, they said they wanted me on their team, I couldn't imagine why." He said smoothly with outright fake innocence. Mei laughed aloud.

"Oh I think you know Naruto-kun, I think you know exactly why they said it. You can't fool me with that baby face act, remember I'm a Fumina," she then tapped her head, "I can see right through that." He eyes narrowed. "I know why and you know as well but just for kicks why don't you just tell me why you think they said that."

"Well, we are good friends and all," He replied. Maybe playing along with a Fumina wasn't a very bright idea, she may not have been a blood Fumina but damn, she was just as smart. Although he was pretty sure that his response was sufficient enough to get her to drop the topic.

"True, but I didn't here them speak about any of their other friends, the entire night it was just about you... Naruto-kun this and Naruto-kun that." Naruto's head flicked up when he heard that Konoe and Sanae had actually called him Naruto-kun, he always thought that they hated addressing people with such friendly endings, well Sanae at least. Naruto's open action didn't go on unnoticed by Mei for she then brought her face closer to his. He stayed silent.

"Oh, did I say something that interest you... Naruto?"

_'Dammit, she is good, well then I guess that I'll...' _He was about to open his mouth when he heard four sets of footsteps.

"Okaasan, stop harassing him that's really rude you know." Said Konoe's voice from behind him. He turned to see her and Sanae walking up behind, following right behind them were the two gatekeepers Nagisa and Chigusa. Naruto mentally sighed, he was safe, but he knew that if he stayed any longer Mei would ferret out what he was about to say before.

"Ok, now that we are all here," he looked at Sanae and Konoe, "we can all get to the academy now right? Right! Ok so we'll be going now." He said as he grabbed both Sanae and Konoe by the shoulder and dashed off with them into the distance and out through the Fumina compound main gate.

Mei then giggled and glanced at Nagisa and Chigusa. "Ah, young love... funny isn't it?" She said, to which the two twins responded to with two syncopated giggles of their own.

Mei then bowed to the two twins and bid them a good day, it was funny; upon leaving the manor Naruto had kicked up a rather large cloud of dust. Since when was the boy that fast?

xxxxxxxX

After a minute of running Naruto had finally slowed and allowed Sanae and Konoe to gain possession over their own arms once more. The looks on both their faces where confused, unwitting and most of all, exactly the same. They had turned onto the street that was home to the famous Ichiraku ramen shop, the Ichiraku district. Because of the Ramen bar's popularity this long street had adopted the name of its most well-known attraction. It was a good thing too, this district was one that was just a straight path to their academy, merely a long line of shops going in one or two general directions.

This was the street that the trio had always taken to the academy, just as they were now. But there was something weird about today's walk to the academy, something odd about Naruto. Sanae and Konoe didn't let this go on unaddressed.

"Hey Naruto, you okay?" Sanae asked the blond. Naruto slipped his hands into his pockets and straightened out his back, his quote, "cool guy walk".

"Of course, I'm doing just fine, I'm just a little tetchy. I'm itching to find out who my new Jonin is." Sanae just nodded and looked back in front of her. For some reason she help but think that there was something different about Naruto this day, his entire aura seemed different, like he had suddenly gotten a hell of a lot stronger in a way. She cast a glance toward her sister who didn't miss a beat and nodded. Either Naruto had changed or their mother had said something really... unusual to him and knowing their mom, it was most likely the latter.

They would both find out.

"Hey Naruto, what exactly were you and our mother talking about?" Konoe asked suspiciously. Naruto just chuckled, still keeping his cool stride that made him look as if he was gliding.

"Oh nothing... important, I just asked her how your two twin gatekeepers speak like that." He responded.

"Oh you mean Nagisa and Chigusa, yeah, we've been trying to figure that out for the better part of out lives as well." Sanae said with a small giggle. It seemed as if he had thrown them off of the topic of their mother for the time being, however he mentally sighed when Konoe again asked another question.

"Are you sure that's what you two were talking about, because to me it looked she was talking about something a bit more personal," Konoe said, narrowing her eyes. She knew that he was hiding something and she was determined to find out what it was.

_'Well it doesn't matter if I tell them...,' _Naruto thought to himself, he should have guessed that one of them would try an impugn what it was he was saying, so to save time and to save himself from suffering the torment of any future diatribes he decided that he would tell her. But if she got mad, it wasn't his fault. "Well, if you insist then I guess that I'll tell you."

Then a certain aroma wafted into the air, tickling Naruto's nose. He sniffed a couple of times into the air. "Hm, ramen...," he then heard the low growl of someone's stomach and his head flicked toward Konoe, who had a slight blush on her face.

"Heh, gomen, I was so pumped about today that I forgot to eat breakfast," She said with one hand on the back of her head and the other rubbing her stomach in a circular motion. Sanae let out a slight giggle at how careless her sister could sometimes be. Her nose then picked up the sweet aroma in the air as well and she let out a soft sigh at the smell of sweet ramen, sometimes the Ichiraku district could take someone's stomach for the wildest of rides. The pleasant fragrances were something that she could always expect to meet whenever she walked through here, however, Sanae wasn't expecting what happened next.

In a wild turn of events her stomach let out a low raspy growl of hunger as well.... a really loud one too. It was as if there was some huge hulking beast residing within her abdomen waiting to satisfy its anger. Her face flushed and she let out a loud giggle, attracting a bit of unwanted attention from the villagers.

"Hahah, well I g-guess that I'm a little hungry, I almost forgot that I didn't have breakfast either." She said defensively.

"Well, it's obvious that you two both didn't have any breakfast, and by the sounds of it your both extremely hungry. I think the best thing for both of you would be some breakfast at Ichiraku's, I mean while in ramen district you might as well have something to fill you up." Naruto suggested while they walked which both girls agreed to with a unified nod. The two Fumina's then stopped and allowed their noses to point them in the general direction of the Ichiraku Ramen Bar. As they turned and began to walk the other way they stopped and turned back to Naruto.

"You're not coming?" Konoe said.

Naruto just shook his head and kept on walking, he threw his hand up and yelled back at them. "No way, I've got other things to do besides watch you two eat. I'll see at the academy." He then continued down the street, leaving the two sisters to stand in each others company. On the walk to Ichiraku's the two sisters mostly stayed silent, they were thinking the same thing, however, neither would come out and say anything.

They let they're thoughts swim around in their heads all the way to the ramen bar where they lifted they sat down next to each other.

"You know he's hiding something right?" Konoe said to her sister, who nodded. Due to their proximity of the food the smell of ramen had grown stronger causing Konoe to lean on the counter, allowing her nose to be pleased by the captivating noodles.

"Yeah, I know and it's probably something that our mother said to him. I just hope that what she said didn't ave anything to do with us." Sanae replied, she then flicked some of her hair back behind her shoulder. "Don't worry, we'll find out before today is over. All we have to do is find a way to annoy him long enough to get him to tell us."

"Ah hello, if it isn't the Fumina sisters and what will we be having?" said a gruff voice that caused both sisters to look in front of them. Standing there was the old man that owned the place, Ichiraku Teuchi, he and Naruto were on very good terms due to the blonde's loves of ramen and because of their affiliation with Naruto, Sanae and Konoe were liked by the old man as well.

Seeing as how it was a bit too early for ramen Konoe decided that something simple would do. "I'll have steamed rice and miso soup with grilled fish and some seasoned nori." The elderly shop owner nodded with a smile and yelled back to order to his daughter Ayame, who replied with a yell of equal volume. Teuchi then turned to Sanae.

"What about you Sanae-san, what will you order be." He said Sanae then contemplated on whether or not she should go for something overly extravagant but then remembered that this place was a ramen bar. Their specialty, most likely, wasn't breakfast. That being the case she decided to match the simplicity of her sister's order and order something... plebeian.

"Uh, I'd like some tamagoyaki with a side of miso soup as well and some pickled daikon to go with it."

"Your orders will be ready soon." Teuchi said while going into the back to help his daughter prepare the food for the two sisters.

Konoe then watched the man until he was out of sight and once he was she turned to her sister again.

"Today, we'll find out what he's hiding." She said to which Sanae agreed.

"Yeah, we-...," Sanae was cut off in mid-sentence by another low growl coming from her stomach; she gave a slight blush. "-Yeah we'll get him, after.... breakfast." Sanae said in a slightly embarrassed tone.

"Agreed," Konoe said.

xxxxxX (Back with Naruto)

Naruto had guessed that this was a good place to stop before he went to class, after all if he was going to show off his power today then this place would be essential. After he had seperated from Sanae and Konoe, instead if going straight to class he drifted off to another part of the village. He found himself in an empty street that was lined with dozens of stores and weapon shops. This was one of the more unknown streets in the village, the one that nobody lived on.

Naruto continued to walk down the desolate road until a certain shop caught his eye and he stopped. Primarily the reason why no people lived here was mainly because this part of the village was in proximity to the forest of death, it was literally on the edge of Konoha. The villagers were too scared to live here, the rumors surrounding the forest certainly spread fast around the village; and because of that this place was like a barren wasteland.

But just because it wasn't occupied didn't mean that the stores got no business, in fact out of all the shops in Konoha these shops got the most business. There was only one reason for this district's financial success and that reason was because this avenue was the district where the most of the highest ranked ninja in the village shopped. This Avenue was in fact The Anbu District.

This was the place were mostly only Anbu and a few select Jonin lived and shopped for weapons and supplies. Because it was on the outer edges it was ideal for The Anbu members who were constantly patrolling the perimeter of the village. Surely this wasn't the type of place Genin would be caught dead in, good thing Naruto was no regular Genin.

After his brief pause in front of the store he read the name on the dusky wall above the entrance to the shop. His lips then silently mouthed out the words.

"Gekkani Clothing Shop... ?" His eyebrow curled. "What a mysterious name," He said aloud. However, despite its name he still just shrugged it off and walked inside. "Hey excuse me I'm-..." But he stopped when he stepped inside; you could have said that he was overtaken by all the extravagant merchandise in the shop however that wasn't the case; he was stopped by one thing and one thing only: the numerous glares that were aimed at him the instant he walked inside.

Inside were numerous ninja, all of which where made up of Anbu and high ranking Jonin most of which were either staring at him or off observing some sturdy piece of clothing. Despite the people in the way, Naruto had noticed that the shop was rather spacious although one could not tell when looking from the outside.

Naruto looked around left and right until he finally spotted and walked up to the cashier's counter. The cashier himself was a large burly bald man wearing a stained brown tank top, he couldn't see his pants for they were hidden behind the long wooden counter. What he could see though was the man's upper lip curling with was most likely disgust. His small beady brown eyes were aimed directly at Naruto's own blue eyes. By the way he folded his heavily muscled arms and stuck out his rather large belly, Naruto took it as an attempt to intimidate him.

"Hey, kid... just what the hell are you doing here?" He asked in a demanding tone; although Naruto thought that his ostentatiously loud voice was bit annoying he decided to answer him back.

"Is it not obvious baka? I'm here to buy me something new to wear." Upon being called an idiot a wide vein popped up on the burnished head of who Naruto thought was the shop owner. Naruto smiled inwardly, if he had drawn such a reaction from this man then it wouldn't be hard to get what he wanted without a fight... well maybe not.

The large man slammed his hand on the top of the counter. "Hey, listen here runt, I'm not in the mood right now to play games, what's a fucking Genin like you doing here in this part of the village, you shouldn't even possess the whereabouts of this place!" Naruto noticed that where the man's hand had struck the wooden counter, the wood itself was horribly cracked.

Naruto was neither stupid nor unobservant and because of that Naruto could tell right away that this man was no shinobi, however he was outrageously strong.

"Well, I'm here and I possess the whereabouts of this shop, so therefore it should be obvious that I am no normal Genin, Baka." Naruto voice carried a bit of hostility which further pissed the large man off. Strangely none of the other Jonin and Anbu seemed to care about what was occurring at the counter, did this happen a lot because it sure seemed like it. No matter though, if a fight were to spark up Naruto knew that he would be able to take this guy, plus this was the best place possible to display his power. What better place to show off what he could do than a place where all the strongest Nin gathered. "Plus I have this," Naruto then pulled out the black scroll that Saito had given him, "I got the directions from this thing here." The man's eyes widened. It turned out that the scroll that Saito had given him was actually a map of Konoha and not just any map, it was a map from an Anbu's vantage point, therefore it showed you the location of many of the shops and hidden training grounds used by Anbu in the village.

"Ok short stuff, say what you have to say before I lose my cool." He said. Unfortunately for Naruto his height was always a topic of ridicule and what exacerbated the current situation was that his head was barely a mere foot above the unnecessarily high counter, that being the case, only Naruto's neck could be seen.

"By all means 'big man', lose your cool, Ive got time."

"Listen here, I haven't killed you yet only because you're a child, but if you don't show some fucking respect than I'll just have to make you! Besides what makes you think that I'll give you of all people my service?" That comment caused Naruto to raise a brow.

"What do you mean me of all people?" Naruto asked.

"Oh that's right, you don't know. I would tell you but I'm afraid I'd get killed if I did." He said with a smile on his face.

"Oh that's what you mean, man that's old news. See but the thing is, you can't speak of it but I can and trust me I know what's in me. I am very much aware." That comment drew the attention of the many Anbu occupying the shop. "Now I have a special order to place in for you, I want something better fitting than this old jumpsuit here, take it or else." Naruto spat his last words out with a bit of venom and judging by the man's personality this should have been enough to lure him into a fight.

"You fucking little runt, I'll kill you!" He yelled out.

"Just come and try." Naruto said with a smirk. The man hopped onto the counter, producing a loud thud. Now that his lower body was within full view, his brown pants could be seen in all their dusty glory as he prepared to launch himself at Naruto.

Ah, finally a chance to show his power in front of some ninja who actually mattered in the village. As Naruto readied himself and tightened his fist he heard a voice.

"Yoru, stop this at once!" The voice cut through the air like a kunai, completely drawing the attention of everyone in the store. The air was heavy and everything was silent.

_'Dammit, now who the hell would try to stop me from kicking this guy's ass?' _Naruto thought to himself, already annoyed. He noticed that the large man had a scared expression on his face. He looked past him and saw a tall and slender brown-eyed elderly man with long gray hair that hung to his back, he was wearing a purple shirt which was tucked into a black hakama.

"Yoru, attacking customers is unacceptable, and you know it. Now get back behind the counter and let me handle things here."

"Sorry boss, i-it won't happen again." Yoru stammered out; he then slipped down behind the counter and glared at Naruto who reciprocated his glare with a glare of is own. However his focus was broken when he heard that old man's voice one more.

"I must apologize on Yoru's behalf, he gets like that from time to time." He said while giving him a courteous bow. Naruto saw that Yoru himself was having a tough time trying to hold back his anger and chuckled.

"No need to apologize, after all I was part of reason for the fight almost occurring." Naruto responded.

"Still, It is my obligation as this store owner to take responsibility for employees." Naruto's eyes widened a bit.

"Oh so you're the store owner, I knew it was too nice to be run by a guy like him," Naruto said while pointing a thumb at Yoru who just growled at the boy.

The old man then chuckled at Yoru's reaction. "Yes that is correct I am the owner, my name is Kouha Gekkani." (note that all names are backwards so his first name is Gekkani .)

"Uzumaki Naruto, pleased to meet you." Naruto said but then noticed Gekkani looking him up and down. "Is there a problem?" Naruto asked.

"No, I was just wondering how a Genin found out about this place, that's all." He said.

"Trust me, I'm stronger than I look." Naruto replied, "But cutting to the chase I need to make a special order for a custom piece of clothing." When Gekkani motioned for him to follow, Naruto complied and allowed himself to be allowed into a room in the back of the store, but not before giving Yoru the finger.

The large man then gritted his teeth as he watched the boy fade away into the back room. "Oh I am so going to hurt that little runt." He said.

"I wouldn't try anything," said a voice right next to him. Yoru turned to see an Anbu with a modified tiger mask, he jumped back a little out of surprise.

"H-How long were you standing there?" Yoru asked, slightly afraid.

"That doesn't matter, but anyway I just wanted to tell you not to try anything with that kid. He's more powerful than you can imagine, and by the looks of it he'll get stronger. So you better show him some respect because he's going to be coming here a lot more, that's for sure. And don't think that you can surprise him either, any plans that you have right now for fighting him should be abandoned, for your sake anyway."

Yoru then looked at door where Naruto had walked through with Gekkani. "He doesn't seem that strong," he said but when he got no answer he turned his head and saw nobody there. He hated it when Anbu members did that to him.

Meanwhile with Naruto; he was lead into room full of different fabrics and material.

"So what would this custom order be Uzumaki-san." He said with a smile. That was something he wasn't used to a smile, most people who knew who he was either frowned or glared at him, much like Yoru had. It made Naruto wonder whether or not Gekkani was aware of his status, but judging by the man's elderly appearance, it was obvious that the man knew. He must have just been that much of an accepting person.

"Oh I've tinkering with this idea for a while so I already have what it should look like," He pulled out a folded piece of paper and handed it to Gekkani, the man unfolded it and his brow rose. "Oh and I want it to be made out of the same material as this," he said taking off his orange, blue and white jacket.

"Interesting idea; I'll see what I can do."

"Thanks, but listen I have to go, can you have it done by the end of today?" The old man nodded. "Good, I'll be leaving then." Naruto said as he walked out of the room and after giving Yoru one final glare, walked out of the store.

"Yeah, I'll come back here for sure."

xxxxxX (At the academy)

After a nice breakfast, both Sanae and Konoe were filled and ready to complete the rest of the day. Back in the Ichiraku district they got distracted by the sounds of their... hunger, however now they were satisfied and they were replete. Now they were ready to interrogate Naruto, however the problem was... that there was no Naruto. They walked into the classroom ready to interrogate their blond friend, but they soon found out that he was nowhere in sight. Now they were stuck with Iruka and his horribly dry speech about moving on in the world.

For almost fifteen minutes they had been listening to Iruka go on and on about how he would miss us and how they would be moving on into the ninja world. They never really realized it but, Iruka knew how to bore crap out of a person.

Konoe leaned forward and whispered in her sister's ear. "Hey where do you think Naruto is?" She asked her.

"I don't know, but he better come soon. It sounds like Iruka is about to finish, I hope he doesn't miss the team announcements." Sanae said.

"So in conclusion what I'm trying to say is that I'm very proud of all of you, and that I am very proud to announce which Genin teams will be assigned to which Jonin." Iruka's voice cut through their conversation, causing both sisters to lock their eyes on the man. "Alright, without further ado-...," Iruka began but his voice was cut off this time by a loud bang coming from the entrance to the classroom.

Everyone turned their heads to see Naruto standing at the door. However, there was something missing, specifically a particular piece of clothing. Naruto stood at the door wearing a black t-shirt with an orange swirl on the back instead of his normal orange and blue jacket.

"Oh glad that you could join us Mr. Uzumaki. Your about fifteen minutes late, but you're lucky, I was just about to announce the teams. Hurry up and take your seat."

Naruto just sighed and slammed the door shut. And walked toward his seat near Sanae and Konoe, along the way he heard a multitude of whispers, mainly coming from the female portion of the class. He wasn't complaining though, it felt good to get complimented every once and a while. Most people didn't notice it underneath that heavy jacket of his but he actually had an extremely muscled body, underneath that padded fabric he was a brick house!

And given how small his shirt was, his well-toned body could practically be seen from a mile away. The thin material did nothing but accentuate his body structure and apparently that was a good thing, judging by the positive reaction of the girls in the class.

"My bad for being late, Iruka-sensei, I had some things to take care of." Naruto said cool as he took his seat.

"Well that's okay seeing as how you all are getting new senseis." Iruka said with a smile as Naruto threw a smile back at him.

"He turned and flashed a smile toward Konoe and Sanae. He noticed, that their faces were an unusual hot red, funny he didn't remember their faces this sanguine in the morning. His mind quickly came onto the conclusion that they were blushing and that it was due to his outrageously tight shirt. Then remembered what their mother had mentioned to him earlier in the morning which caused him to smile to himself. It was time to have a little fun.

"Hey, are you guys okay? Your faces look a little red," He whispered as he placed his palms on both on both their foreheads. At the touch of his hands they both squeaked and flinched. "I hope you guys aren't getting sick or something, it would suck if you girls both caught a fever... wouldn't it?" Both girls just slowly nodded with their mouths open while staring directly at Naruto. "Well I hope it's nothing serious," he said as he turned fully around and faced Iruka.

_'That should keep them occupied for a while.' _Naruto thought to himself.

Meanwhile Sanae and Konoe had no clue what just happened to them. Of course they knew what Naruto had done but they didn't know why they reacted like that. Both girls were in a daze and everything else outside of their minds had been tuned out except for Naruto.

Konoe looked at Sanae and noticed that her sister's face was about as red as a tomato. Her own expression matched Sanae's as well, which was confusing. She had been closer to Naruto before today but for some reason when he touched her head she felt something different about him, something powerful and seductive. She knew that there was something different about Naruto, she could tell by the way he walked and talked but she never figured that should would like it this much. Her own reaction to the blond's noticeable change in aura had surprised her and she didn't doubt that her sister was feeling the same way.

_'S-since when did Naruto become so... different?,' _she thought to herself. There was no change in outward appearance but for those who knew Naruto, it was apparent that he had made a definite inner transition. Konoe made a quick glance at the back at Naruto's head but shuddered away, for she could just sense the power radiating off of him.

Sanae, just like her sister was in a state of inner confusion as well. It strange, but when Naruto touched her, she felt her skin... tingle. It was like some weird sensation running through her body, all hot and prickly, and it spread like wildfire. Unlike Konoe, Sanae had first noticed Naruto's physical appearance, not his change in aura. She had never never really noticed it but underneath that bulky orange jumpsuit, Naruto was a solid as a rock.

_'Wow, since when was Naruto so ripped?' _Blood rushed to her cheeks and she found herself staring at him, but quickly turned away in fear of somebody catching her. Now wasn't the time to be staring though, as to why she was even staring, Sanae didn't want to admit anything to herself. She needed to be focused, and alert.

Just then Iruka's voice drew her attention back toward the front of the classroom. Every now and then she glanced at Naruto and saw that he wasn't paying attention, instead he was looking out the window. Normally she would have scolded him and told him to pay attention but due to very appealing circumstance next to her, Sanae wasn't so sure how her words would come out if she were to try and speak to him. It was better for her to stay silent.

"As you all know, you will all be assigned to new teams and along with that new Jonin senseis. The teams will be composed of three members, I will now announce the names of each of those teams."

As Iruka began announcing the teams Naruto did well not paying attention, normally he would have in a situation like this but as of now he really didn't care who was on his team... as long as it was not a fan girl. He wouldn't even mind having Konoe on Sanae on his team either and apparently they really didn't mind having him for a teammate. No matter who was on his team, he would still get to use his power so as of now he wasn't all that interested.

Iruka went through many names, announcing the pairings and then going on to announce which Jonin they were assigned to. Some people were happy and others sad, some were gloomy and others mad; but to Naruto it did not matter. As long as he get stuck with someone who wasn't completely incompetent then he was alright.

It had been three minutes and Iruka had gone through about six teams and was just about to announce the next team.

"Alright team seven... Haruno Sakura... U-uchiha Sasuke;" the pink haired girl let out a squeal of glee and flashed a victory sign to all of Sasuke's other suitors, letting them know that she had won. "-ehem, as I was saying, Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke and Inuzuka Kiba." Sakura then let out a low grumble upon hearing dog user's name."Your Jonin instructor will be Hatake Kakashi."

"Team eight... Hyuuga Hinata, Aburame Shino and... Uzumaki Naruto." Hinata's head instantly sprung up hearing the name of her blond crush being mentioned along with her's. Naruto himself, just glanced at her, making her look away; he then looked at Shino to which the boy then looked back at him. The bug user's eye brow shot up and hovered above his ever-present black sun glasses. Naruto looked away and shuddered, man that kid was weird... but who ever said that weird wasn't good. Naruto himself was... weird, although he always labeled himself as unique; guess one could say that Shino was 'odd' in some ways but acceptable. Overall it was a decent team, they were a bit interesting and he wanted to see how well a Hyuuga could collaborate with an Aburame. Two diverging styles of combat meant that in order to make an efficient team they would have to work together like the gears in a clock; and that meant perfect synchronization. "Your Jonin instructor will be Yuuhi Kurenai."

"Seeing as how there still is a team nine I'm going to skip onto the next team. Team ten, Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, and Akimichi Choji, your Jonin will be Sarutobi Asuma." Then Iruka took one final look at the paper in his hand and scratched his head.

"Oh? it seems like we had and odd number of students graduate this year. There are still two left over, ah the Fumina sisters... wow lucky, looks like you two will be paired together on team eleven and your Jonin will be....ooooh uh, Mitarashi Anko."

Naruto glanced back at the Fumina sisters, both their expressions were downcast, just by hearing the name Mitarashi Anko they had both been thrown into a lugubrious mood. "Sorry guys, tough luck." He whispered to them and turned back. Most likely that didn't even help, it probably exacerbated the situation, but then again when did teasing ever help a situation?

"This rarely happens after graduation," Iruka continued. "But don't worry, we will find a third teammate for your team. Anyway, now that you all know your teams, and Jonin instructors all you have to do is wait. They will be here soon so sit tight and be patient... bye now!" Iruka said as he made a hand sign and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

That was weird, Iruka seemed like he was in a rush to go somewhere. And judging by the tone of his voice the situation was urgent; Naruto made a mental note of that. Also he noticed that Mizuki was gone as well, the man hadn't even bothered to show up for class. Well as of now it didn't matter that much to Naruto, he just wanted to meet his Jonin.

If he remembered correctly he was assigned to Yuuhi Kurenai, the Genjutsu specialist... well more like master. Once before, while going through private shinobi files in Ojii-san's office he had come across her file. From what he read, his instructor was a extremely skilled in Genjutsu, and apparently possessed the knowledge of over one thousand Genjutsu....; she was the Hatake Kakashi of optical illusions. In the future she would prove to be an entertaining sensei, although not as entertaining as the Hokage himself.

After thirty minutes of silence between him Konoe and Sanae, mostly everyone else had been picked up by their Jonin instructors. Now the only people in the room were, Sanae Konoe and the members of team eight and seven. The atmosphere was thick and silence permeated the air. Every time Naruto glanced at Konoe or Sanae, he noticed their downcast expressions... either they were sad about not being teammates with him or their darkened expressions were caused by the knowledge of who their Jonin sensei was. Naruto knew who Mitarashi Anko was and by the rumors surrounding her, he couldn't blame the two brunettes for adopting such perturbed looks.

But he didn't let it pressure him to much. Their temperance was, in itself, a good distraction for them and would give him a chance to move away before they started to annoy him in order to make themselves feel better. Naruto's eyes darted from the two sisters then onto team seven and then onto his own team who were seated across the room. He stood up and walked over to the him while eying the Aburame boy with much focus, not even breaking his concentration to so much as take his gaze off the aloof Genin.

"Hey, Shino, can I ask you something," He said taking a seat on the desk next to Shino.

From behind his high gray-colored collar the Aburame boy nodded slowly. His thin-rimmed black glasses seemed to be glued to his face for the did not move an inch when he moved his head. "What is it... I presume that you have come to me in order to discuss the topic of our Jonin sensei," Shino's eyebrow shot up above his dark specs, "correct?" The boy was awfully perceptive, but Naruto had expected as much from a person from the Aburame clan. He did not look at Naruto only away, as if he was avoiding the blonde's eyes.

"Wow, you hit then nail right on the head. Didn't expect you to answer before I had a chance to ask. But getting to the point, you do know of our sensei correct?"

"Yes, in fact I've heard a multitude of stories about her skill, particularly her mastery in the art of Genjutsu," Shino replied in a neutral tone. He brought his hand up up and adjusted his glasses. "Why, are you expecting anything of her?" There he went again, predicting what he was about to say before he even said it.

"Actually yes, I am, and I am also expecting out of you and Hinata as well." This caused the usually distant boy to show some interest. He turned his full gaze onto Naruto, apparently drawn fully into the conversation by subtle alacrity and uttered one word.

"Elaborate."

"Don't read too much into it, all that is meant is that I can see that you along with Hinata have skills that will prove to be both valuable and irreplaceable in the future, so to curtail; I'm glad to have you on our team," Naruto said nonchalantly.

"Your words are much appreciated, I myself am satisfied with you and Hinata as my teammates as well." Shino said. Naruto figured that he could get along with Shino, as stoic and shadowy as the boy was he was still just that, a boy. And no boy, no matter how odd they may seem, could be completely unsociable. Naruto then took that thought back as the image of a certain Uchiha flashed in his mind.

Naruto really hadn't expected Shino to open up so easily however, but it didn't matter at the time, as long as he had lightened up the mood with his teammate. As he had made a slight connection with one teammate, he was pleased, however one remained and there she was timidly walking up to both him and Shino.

Hinata slowly crept up to the two boys, Naruto today for some reason had changed. He seemed more confident than he was the day before, it reminded her of the day she first met him, when he had stood up to her father. Although she only had a brief conversation with him that day he said something to her that she would remember for many years to come in the future. The words he said she still remembered.

_'But you just got to know how to speak to them...' _His words still rang in her mind, a constant reminder of why it she admired him so much, his confidence, his demeanor and his charisma, they had all returned back to their former glory just like on that day. His character wasn't just what she admired as well, shallow as it may be, his physical features had become her daily eye candy. Most of the time she would stare at him for what seemed to her like hours, although it was only a period of time abundant in brevity. But her infatuation with Naruto was nothing whimsical, at times Hinata herself contemplated on whether or not her attraction to Naruto was just mere infatuation. To her it felt like more than some school girl crush; it wasn't like the attraction that some of the females in her class had with Uchiha Sasuke, it was more than that, she just knew and hopefully she hoped that one day Naruto too would one day feel the same way towards her. But until then idle fraternization, she would have to settle for.

"A-ano, I was wondering," she began in a her usual low tone. Her voice however was cut off by the dry grind of the door opening to reveal a black haired woman standing in its rectangular frame.

She wore a white and red dress that stopped at the high point of her thighs, was very beautiful. The most outstanding feature about her was her piercing red eyes, that almost seemed to bore into a person. She opened her mouth and said, "Team eight meet me in training ground nineteen in ten minutes," before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

"Well, I guess that that was Kurenai, hm, she seems interesting." Naruto said before getting up to leave, he gave Sanae and Konoe one final wave, however tha did not respond for they were lost in deep emotional adversity, he went against any decisions to solace them and just went on his way. Shino stood as well and walked out as well, with Hinata slowly following behind.

"Indeed she is an interesting one," the bug user said as he followed Naruto to the roof.

xxxxxX (On the training field)

Kurenai didn't waste any time getting to the training field, although she didn't show it in the class before, she was actually excited about getting herself a team. Given that she had never been assigned a team before, she felt as though she could handle this team correctly. It seemed to her that she had actually gotten lucky. But for now she would test them, she ahd purposely given them a period of ten minutes to get to training ground nineteen. She knew that it would take more than just ten minutes for a Genin to get there, most likely closer to twenty minutes. She just wanted to assess their speed before she got started.

Underneath a large tree, she sat, enjoying the brief moment of peace before her team came here. The leaves loomed over her entire being, casting a cool shadow that, saved her from the heat of the sun. The feeling it brought flowed throughout her body, giving her otherwise dry skin a break and it allowed her to think clearly.

Who did she have... let's see there was that Aburame. His clan's technique's utilized bugs to their every advantage, although a very distant clan in Konoha, their prowess was well noted throughout the village; some ways recognized their power better than others. She had only gotten to see an Aburame in battle a handful of times, but what she saw when they did was always surprising and in some ways disturbing. He would prove to be a beneficial asset to her team.

Then there was Hyuuga Hinata, the daughter of the current Hyuuga clan head, Hyuuga Hiashi and next in line to take the position of leadership. Kurenai herself had interacted with her many times in the past; she was a timid little thing. She had much potential and although she used her family's Gentle Fist style of fighting diffidently, she showed much promise. If only her self-esteem issue would stop getting in her way, she might actually be able to improve herself but it wasn't her fault. Kurenai blamed her father for the way Hinata turned out; his coldness and harsh actions toward his daughter turned her into the shy girl she was now. She thought of herself as a failure, and what was worse was that her father agreed with her. The thought of it sickened her and she knew that Hinata's confidence was something that she had to work on with the girl.

Lastly there was the Uzumaki, Kyuubi's jailer. She didn't know what to think of this boy actually; she was never one of those ignorant villagers who thought of Naruto as the Kyuubi himself, never would she stoop to such a low mindset. But she couldn't help but feel that he was hiding something, whether or not he even knew of the Kyuubi's existence was still unknown. He seemed strong, however, would he be able to work with the other two on his team. Many rumors surrounded the boy; some saying that he was hiding his true power and that he was a ruthless fighter.

"Hm, that one's a mystery," she said to herself.

"Which ones a mystery?," said a voice. Kurenai's eyes widened when she looked up and saw Naruto standing upside down on a branch. He had a jaunty expression plastered on his face, for a moment the wind blew and Kurenai said nothing.

"Well," he said raising a brow.

Kurenai just sat surprised. There should have been now way that he could have gotten there so quickly, she herself had gotten there in little under two minutes; so for him to get there and approach her without her noticing was unnatural for a child his age.

"Y-you, how did you get here so fast?" she asked.

"That doesn't matter right now, I have someone who's here and wants to speak to you."

"Who could possibly--," She cut herself off when she noticed an Anbu with a slightly modified tiger mask walk from behind the tree.

"Wha- what the hell is this?," she asked.

"Kurenai-sensei... this is Yuuji Saito, my future Anbu captain." Kurenai almost stopped thinking for a moment. The fact that he just Anbu, meant that he was stronger than he let on, most maybe even stronger than she was. The concept of being weaker than a Genin was a bit surprising, in fact it was mind-boggling there should have been no way that this boy could possibly attain Anbu rank.

Still Kurenai sat and said nothing, dumbfounded by what might actually be reality.

"I had expected a reaction like that. There should still be more than fifteen minutes before everyone else gets here... so you should use the time wisely and listen to Saito here has to say." Kurenai just nodded with her lower lip hanging off like she was an idiot. Saito then took over from there, promptly informing Kurenai of Naruto's situation and how he was to become an Anbu by next year. He told her of how Naruto would be training with them a lot in order to gain some experience before he was fully placed in his squad. The entire time Kurenai was silent, looking from away from Saito only to glance at Naruto who had taken to cleaning out his ears.

After he finished speaking, Kurenai only nodded.

"Well I'm glad that you understand your student's position, I guess that I'm done here," he then glanced up at Naruto, "and I'll be expecting you afterward."

"Yeah, yeah," Naruto said; not even bothering to look at his captain, completely focused on excavating the cave that he called his ear.

With that Saito bowed and walked behind the tree, when Kurenai look to see if he was still there her eyes widened, for he was gone.

"How do-"

"-they do that?" Naruto said finishing her question for her. "Yeah, I'm still trying to figure that one out for myself."

Kurenai eyed the boy carefully, it was true, she had gotten lucky. Who would have thought on her first Genin team she would have a Genin stronger than herself, but that only lead to her feeling a bit off edge and insecure about her own ability.

"Naruto," she said.

"Yeah, what is it Kurenai-sensei?," he replied. It was a surprise that he still addressed her as his sensei since he clearly outranked her when it came to skill. However, she swallowed whatever injured pride that may have attempted to show its head and asked him a question.

"What is it that you did to get so strong?"

"Oh that, it wasn't really just me, I got some help from our Hokage." That shocked Kurenai.

"And what do you mean by that?"

"I mean, I was trained by him." Now Kurenai was intrigued, if he was brought under the eye of the Hokage then who knows what type of techniques he had hidden in those, rather tight sleeves of his. She would have to make sure to tell him to get some different clothing, if not then he had better be prepared to run from a couple dozen girls every day. "Since I was seven years old he trained me... taught me everything I know. And yet I still don't know how the Anbu do that vanishing thing."

"Hm interesting.... well you can tell me more later, because I think that your teammates have finally arrived and a bit earlier than I expected."

xxxxXXX

Shino was tired to say the least. He had actually pushed himself to make that ten minute mark, whatever his sensei was trying to achieve by making him and Hinata rush to such a far away training ground, he had no clue.

Behind him a badly-winded Hinata followed, dragging her feet against the dusky ground.

"Shino, i-isn't that N-naruto sitting next to Kurenai-sensei?"

Shino, who had been looking at the ground the entire time paused and looked up. Indeed, was Naruto sitting next to their sensei staring into the sky as if he had been there for a long time and was bored. The boy's finely tuned intellect caused his mind to race to the one question that sprung up.

"How... did he get here so quickly," he said between breaths.

"I d-don't know, he must be really fast," Hinata muttered,

As the both of them approached the large tree, Kurenai motioned for them to come over.

"Well, you two look tired. Did you have a hard time getting here?," Kurenai asked.

A small but noticeable vein popped up on Shino's head. "Hardly, I would just rather... take my time." Kurenai then giggled.

"Oh, then why are you breathing so hard?"

"I'd rather not speak about it," Shino said as he hid away beneath his large collar. Naruto let out a loud chuckle and Hinata herself suppressed a chuckle, although it was rather hard to laugh when you were as tired as she was.

As Kurenai looked her team up and down, she smiled warmly. It seems as if she had gotten really lucky this first time. A Hyuuga, an Aburame, and the ever-present mystery that was her most interesting pupil, Uzumaki Naruto. Yep, she had gotten really lucky.

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Sorry, if this chapter came across as a bit boring, I mean I was just out of it when I was writing. Like my hands were typing but nothing was coming out correctly, it really did suck having to right this chapter. And I know, yes, there still were no signs of NaruHina in this chapter, except for one brilliant thing. They are now teammates, seeing as how I didn't feel like putting that much interaction with them in this chapter I settled for a nice start. Naruto and Hinata on the same team, equals the start to a nice love story.

Well anyway, just tell me what you think, good or bad I don't care, as long as you review. I mean I can put a review to good use, so do what you can to help me out. OH YEAH, and I would rally love to get to at least forty reviews, it would help me out a lot.

until next time.

thanx

latr

Next Chapter: Crumble

GrIm'S sTePpIn' OuT


	3. Crumble

Hey people, I know I know I'm really late on this one, but I have a perfectly good reason for my tardiness... yeah um, you see I'm sort of doing this thing at this place that requires me to not be near any technology for a long time....

No but really that really is the reason, I really don't feel like going into any details so I'll leave that out later.

Anyway, I got a review saying that the vocabulary that I used for this story was a bit difficult to comprehend, I don't really see why but I guess that people want me to dumb down the vocab so with this chapter I tried to stop using the big words... but I promise nothing in the future. I mean what's wrong with large words... they're so fascinating, honestly I ca-...wait no what am I saying... oh no I can't believe it, I'm becoming my mother!

Seriously my mom is like uber smart and if you guys think that I use big words... wait until you get a load of the person responsible for giving birth to me.

(Wow...random much)

Alright I won't hold you back anymore, I shall let you free and allow to read this installment of Crimson Dawn: Uzumaki Naruto.

Enjoy or you might just have to pay me a hefty amount of money...or I could make you pay in gummy worms... if I get hungry, whichever is fine for me. (and I do like gummy worms)

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Crimson Dawn: Uzumaki Naruto

As of now, Yuuhi Kurenai was very pleased; the awaiting looks on the faces of her students' faces brought a smile to the red-eyed beauty's lips. Overlooking her three students, she folded her arms, half her face covered by the shade of the tree behind her.

Hinata who was standing directly parallel to Kurenai had raised an eyebrow, up until now she hadn't noticed it but when shrouded by the deep shade it was apparent that Kurenai's piercing eyes were so intimidating because they actually glowed. Behind the shadows two small scarlet red pupils glowed, completely locked onto her and taking on the likeness of fire, It was beginning to bother Hinata, looking at Kurenai's eyes reminded her of how her father looked at her, but even though their stares bore such an uncanny resemblance she knew that Kurenai's was a stare of compassion. Still, it did not hurt to point it out.

"A-ano, Kurenai-sensei," Hinata said slightly raising her hand.

"Yes."

"Your eyes... they're g-glowing."She said hesitantly.

"Yeah, I was kind of wondering about that as well, why they are like that?" Naruto added in, jamming his hands into his pockets.

"I would also like to know he reason behind your eyes, if it is not too much trouble," Shino stated.

"Oh these," Kurenai said with a slight giggle. She closed her eyes for a slight second and then when she reopened them the ghastly glow of her irises had disappeared," these are not real. It's actually just a small genjutsu I placed over them, I developed it when I was younger; whenever two many males would fawn over me I used it to scare them away, I guess I had just gotten so accustomed to using it that it has become more like a reflex to just activate whenever I'm in public. Perhaps I should teach it to you," she said aiming her finger at Hinata,"You could use it... a lot."

Hinata simply blushed and shook her head, looking down as she caught on to what her new sensei was insinuating: that she was pretty. "O-oh no, I don't think I would need it." Hinata said shyly; she cast a quick glance at Naruto who did not seem to notice her embarrassment, seemingly oblivious.

For Kurenai to say such embarrassing things while around Naruto was a bit too much for Hinata to suppress at the moment.

A breeze rustled the leaves of the trees and the low howl of wind filled the air.

"Alright, no more idle conversation," Kurenai stated abruptly, her voice brought Hinata's face back up, "Time for everyone to introduce themselves."

Shino interrupted by raising his hand halfway past his waist, "Excuse me sensei, would introductions not prove to be useless, If I am correct, we all know each other."

"Very good Shino-kun," She responded while giving the Aburame boy a pat on his head, much to his annoyance, "while you do know each other, I do not _know _each of you, when I say _introduce, _I don't just mean your names. I want you to show me just exactly who you are when it comes to skill level."

"So exactly what do you have in mind?" Shino said, a dark eyebrow appearing over the rim of glasses.

"Well first we'll start off with a light spar." Kurenai responded.

"Hm, that is not a bad proposal sensei, I agree to it, as I am curious to test out the skill of my two teammates." Kurenai smirked. Well the boy certainly wasn't discreet about things, surprising for one who was usually so distant. Shino turned to Naruto, aiming his black glasses at the blond. If Kurenai's ears were correct, she could have sworn that she heard a low buzz emanate from underneath the folds of Shino's jacket.

First off, there was what Naruto had said to him that had gotten him so riled up to spar. Naruto had said that he was expecting of him and Hinata, well at the moment Shino was eager to show him just what was to be expected. Secondly, if Naruto was able to get to the training field before he and Hinata were an not even break a sweat then what were his skills in battle like. He had already established that Naruto was faster than both he and Hinata were, the only question: was he stronger than they were?

To the untrained eye, things like a mere sentence and simply beating a person to a predetermined destination were things that stuck out like a sore thumb; but Shino wasn't boisterous, his eyes weren't that sharp. However, these things did not escape the observant mind, and Shino's mind was the basic meaning of the word observant.

Shino's concentration on his new teammate was broken when he felt Kurenai's hand hit his shoulder.

"Why don't you spar with Hinata first, and I'll spar with Naruto." Oh, that was great, was Kurenai a mind reader or something? Leave it to the trained eye of a Jonin to actually see past his Aburame mask and deduce that he wanted to fight Naruto.

"A-agreed, sensei." Shino said, turning his gaze to Hinata.

Naruto then smiled, knowing exactly what his sensei was trying to do. She was in fact attempting to gauge his skill level; in a very straightforward and subtle way Kurenai was telling Naruto that she wanted to fight him.

"That's fine with me." Naruto said, waving his hand. "I need a work out."

"Those are very confident words Naruto," Shino muttered, "it would be in your best interest to remember that Kurenai-sensei is in fact Jonin."

"Yeah, I'm fully aware," Naruto replied, not bothering to glance at Shino._ 'It's time to show them what I can do.' _

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Pain shot through Kurenai's back as she was shot back into the thick trunk of a tree. Dropping to her knees, she let out a heavy breath, her gaze aimed at the ground. A bead of sweat dripped off her forehead, hitting the ground just as it was darkened by a shadow.

Kurenai looked up to see Naruto above her with his leg extended above his head. His bored expression turned sideways when Kurenai rolled to the side, barely avoiding Naruto's heel before it made contact with her face. As she got up she was forced to duck a roundhouse, the force of Naruto's kick sent her long hair swaying to the side.

As soon as she stood, she was thrown back into the defensive, blocking a mass of punches and kicks aimed at her head and torso. Seriously, who knew that Uzumaki Naruto would be this strong? She had been sparring with the kid for about an hour and within the first twenty minutes it had already become apparent that he was much more skilled than she was when it came to taijutsu.

Striking like a snake, the flat of Naruto's sandal smacked against her arm as she blocked another kick. He wasn't done however, spinning around, Naruto slid his foot back onto the ground and aimed a backhand at her face. She ducked and, utilizing her low crouched position, hopped up, almost catching Naruto's chin with high upward kick. Her foot came back down with force, cutting through the air like a blade, and crashed down onto Naruto's shoulder.

He took the force of the blow, his legs bending, but he soon countered by stepping in, thus throwing her off balance and blasting her back again with an open palmed strike.

_'Dammit, he's one strong Genin!,' _Kurenai thought as she flipped and landed on her feet. That last attack had hurt, if she had to be honest with herself, she would have said that he might have cracked... something. However, she had no time to think about her minor injuries, Naruto was coming in again.

Naruto flew, hopping a bit, and aiming a well-placed knee at the center of her chest. Kurenai caught it and twisted so that he would loose his balance; her planned worked for the most part. Bringing his other leg forward Naruto brought Kurenai's head to the ground with a quick kick and she tasted dirt

That was it, she had enough of that. Yuuhi Kurenai had been knocked down for the last time. She pushed herself up and rolled away from Naruto, who was on the ground as well; this was her chance. She quickly stood up and kicked the boy in his ribs, he barely blocked in time but that still did not matter.

With her upward kick, Naruto's body rose in the air, carried by Kurenai's leg. He let out a small grunt and was tossed backward as Kurenai stepped in struck with an open palm.

Just as Hinata's attention was drawn to the battle between Naruto and Kurenai, the blond had hit the ground._ 'Naruto!' _For the most part, Hinata had not seen the spar between her crush and sensei. Her attention was centered fully on Shino, whose taijutsu to her surprise was better than what she had expected. He blocked most of her strikes, only slipping a few times when she managed to land a hit on him.

It was after five minutes into their spar that she noticed that Shino was distracted. He kept looking off to the side, turning his head as she aimed a Jyuuken strike and every time his eyes were looking toward Naruto and Kurenai-sensei's spar.

It was odd for an Aburame to seem... distracted, they never got distracted.

Shino moved in, Hinata dodged his strike, his arm flying past her ear.

"Hinata."

Huh, was Shino whispering to her. More importantly, was Shino whispering something to her in the middle of their spar. The sunlight hit his glasses, causing them to coruscate, shining bright light into her eyes forcing her to close them. "Hinata, look at Naruto."

Suddenly, opening her eyes, Hinata blinked rapidly; Shino was still in front of her, However, his arm had fallen back to his side and he was standing straight with his hands in his pockets.

"W-what do you mean?" Hinata asked, a thin layer of sweat laced her skin and her question was asked between heavy breaths.

"Look at how he's fighting... he's matching Kurenai punch for punch, that shouldn't be right, back at the academy Naruto only demonstrated that he had a basic grasp of the academy style taijutsu. Now, he's fighting on what looks like par with Kurenai-sensei and look at his movements; those are academy taught moves. He's using a completely different technique."

Shino was right, Naruto's movements were drastically different from what she had seen in the academy. His strikes were quicker, his reflexes faster as well; it was as if his entire knowledge of taijutsu had completely evolved in the blink of an eye.

But how, how was this possible? Shino was, as ashamed as he was to say it, flummoxed, confused. Was Naruto hiding something, something that allowed him to gain this strength; a small tingle of relief entered Shino. He soon realized that if it had been him to fight Naruto from the beginning, he would have clearly been overtaken.

"OK, let's stop." Kurenai said and she let out a tired sigh. Her face was covered in bruises from hitting the ground so many times, Naruto on the other hand had little but a scratch on his entire body. Hinata and Shino had both stopped sparring.

They stood silently in the middle of the clearing, as if struck by awe. Although, given the display of skill that Naruto had just shown Kurenai would not be surprised if they were both surprised. With two waves of her arm Kurenai called to two over; she then turned back to Naruto.

"Naruto, let me ask you a question," The blond raised an eyebrow.

"Fire away," he responded nonchalantly.

Kurenai nodded, it was obvious that Naruto had was in no way fatigued by that light spar. Kurenai's breathing on the other hand was a little bit more than heavy; by this time it was obvious that Naruto could outclass her when it came to physical combat. His attacks were, too swift, his strikes too strong but as strong as he may have been, Kurenai was still sure that she held her superiority over him when it came to the more..mysterious techniques of the shinobi.

"While we were sparring, you showed no attempt to hide your prowess from Shino and Hinata, tell me are you comfortable with having your skill exposed?"

Naruto smiled; he was hopping that someone would ask that question. "Actually, I'm quite fine with letting people see my power now that I have permission from our Hokage."

"Excuse me?"

"Before I became an official nin of the village, when I began my training with the Sandaime, I had to make a promise. A vow saying that I was not to show my true strength, unless I was given permission specifically from the Hokage himself.," Naruto then chuckled, "And just yesterday I was given the OK to show what I could do, and as you have already seen, I'm perfectly comfortable with people seeing my power."

"Hm." Was all that Kurenai said. SHe would have never guessed that there was a child with this much power hiding right under her nose. And what was so surprising about it was that it was the one person that almost every villager hated with a heated passion: the bane of Konoha, the demon boy. It was strange; she had heard the rumors of how Naruto was treated so badly by the villagers, the many assassination attempts, the seemingly random beatings, the riots supporting his execution. With all of the power that he held, it was a wonder that the boy had not let it go straight to his head; he could have gone mad and slaughtered all those who tried to take his life.

But he did not, he simply took it. What was it that kept him mentally intact? During those times when he was getting chased and beaten, he had the power to stop but instead of taking the easy route and ending it all, he allowed it to happen. Sometimes, she heard, he would go missing and show up weeks later a bloody mess. What was it that he thought about during those life and death situations that helped him control himself and not retaliate.

Truly he was a mystery and now that mystery was her student, and hers to unravel; she would have to make sure that she solved to puzzle that was Uzumaki Naruto.

Making his way over with Hinata, the usually taciturn Shino said aloud, "Naruto, may I ask you a quick question?"

Naruto mentally sighed, another question... how fun. "Yeah, what is it Shino?" Naruto said in a bored tone. The Aburame pointed his finger at Kurenai, who adopted a confused expression. It seemed as if his previous suspicion about Naruto was true, now was his chance to confirm it. For a quick second Shino abandoned his habitually low tone of voice and said out loud.

"Can, you tell me why Kurenai-sensei has seemingly taken more damage during that spar then you did? You are but a Genin like Hinata and myself, correct?" Naruto nodded, "Then why is it that you can best a Jonin in combat, back at the academy your skills were nowhere near as polished as they are now. It should be impossible for you, at you estimated skill level, to beat Kurenai-sensei in a match, even if it was a light spar."

"I-I also have noticed that y-your stronger than you were a couple of days ago," Hinata added in, Naruto noticed that her gaze hung low toward the ground.

"Should it not be obvious, Shino?" Kurenai gave him a look but he ignored it. "I'm stronger than I let on before, I surprised that you did not see it before, for an Aburame, you sure are a bit unobservant." That was a low blow; there was no way that Shino would take sitting down, that was a major shot to his Aburame pride."

"Don't fool yourself, Naruto, I came to the conclusion that you were hiding something a long time ago, I simply wanted you to confirm it."

"Really?" Naruto said smugly.

"Yes, but just too be sure that you are not blowing up your own power," He paused, "Would you allow me to spar with you?"

"That's fine with me." Naruto said, he could use another warm up.

Kurenai sighed. _'Boy, this will be quick.'_

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"Ah, what the hell are those things?" Sanae asked as she hid behind a tree for cover. She clenched her teeth when she felt the tree budge... hard, as if something large had stuck it. Where the hell was Konoe, she couldn't do this by herself. Right off the bat, Sanae had deduced that that Anko was insane. As soon as they had reached their training ground... well if the Forest of Death could even be called a 'training' ground. Honestly, what type of sensei brings her first two pupils two the most dangerous location in the entire village?

Apparently Mitarashi Anko.

Taking a deep breath before hoping onto a branch above her, avoiding another attack by those bizarre snakes that seemed to just live in Anko's sleeves. She heard the crack of a branch being ripped apart just as she hit the thick brown branch above her.

She remembered her first impression of her sensei. That happy-go-lucky facial expression was so disarming, at first she thought '_Oh this lady doesn't look too bad'_, well it didn't please her to know that she was wrong. Upon meeting them both Anko had told them to follow her to their training ground; when she asked where the training ground was all Anko did was tell her not to worry about it.

_'It'll be fun!' _Anko said. Well.. some fun; so much for having a nice, laid-back sensei who would let them train at their own pace.

For the past hour, Anko had been training them into the ground. From her position on the branch, Sanae glanced at the ground of the forest floor, it was dark and covered in greenery. Small cylindrical rays of light pierced the dense canopy, bringing in minimum light onto the floor. Scanning the ground behind her, Sanae's eyes narrowed.

Was that a sound, a rustle of leaves perhaps? Directly underneath her a large fern was moving a bit... oddly, even against the light breeze of the forest.

Her eyes narrowed as another sound penetrated the silence of the forest and she peered into a dark patch of shadow created by the many bushes.

_'Hisssss.'_

"Oh damn!" She knew what that sound meant, her thoughts were confirmed when a pair of golden, slitted eyes opened with an audible click and a the pick maw of a brown and black striped snake came rushing at her. Later, as expected, Anko's arm came rising out of the bush and she poked her head out, smiling.

"You better dodge or you'll die, these snakes are venomous."

"V-venomous!" Sanae yelled in surprise. That wasn't good; there was a deadly snake heading her way, she was exhausted, and her sister was nowhere to be found, _yay what fun...._

As the hiss grew loud Sanae prepared her legs to jump out of the way; that would be the plan if she wasn't so tired.

She let out a squeal as the the gleaming fangs of the snake approached.

"Don't worry, I've got you covered!"

Then there was a flash of blue and black and before Sanae knew it, her sister, Konoe was in the air with her foot connected to the head of the rather vicious snake. The reptile let out a loud hiss of pain as Konoe kicked it back at its owner... who by the way wasn't there anymore.

"Konoe watch out!" Sanae yelled, witnessing her sensei appear behind her sister. With renewed energy Sanae pumped chakra into her legs, springing off of the tree branch and down at Anko with as much speed as she could muster up.

The snake, still attached to Anko's arm swung back up an caught Sanae in mid air; she struggled but it was of no use. Now Anko was able concentrate on Konoe; she grabbed her by the back of her shirt and hung her in the air. She turned and with a small grunt Anko flung Konoe, causing the girl to go into a series of back flips until she smacked her back against the trunk of a tree.

Sticking to the trunk like gum, Konoe glanced at her sensei's face.

Was she smiling? Oh now she got it, this was like play time for her. Konoe let out a low groan, a tiny almost indiscernible murmur before the world went black and she fell onto a wide branch directly underneath her.

"Konoe!" Sanae said, but she was cut off mid-sentence when she found herself being caught by gravity. The odd sensation of falling filled her stomach, he ground came closer, rushing to meet her and Anko.

Anko landed on her feet, a feather falling from the sky. Sanae on the other hand... had a landing a bit less than comfortable. As soon as Anko hit the ground Sanae was released by her sensei's... weapon and thrown to the ground, from which she landed on her butt and rolled backwards until she lay flat on her stomach.

"Ow... that hurt," Sanae yelled, " a lot", she finished off lamely while rubbing her bottom.

She squeaked when a pair of feet with shin guards crashed down in front of her.

"You... fail!" Anko's harsh voice caused Sanae to cover her ears. "It was such a simple task... and you both failed!" She said loudly, the body of Anko's snake then retracted back into the sleeve of her trench coat.

"W-what do you mean by _simple?" _Sanae asked sitting up, the look on her sensei's face fierce, like the snake she previously controlled. "Y-you were chucking snakes at us!"

Anko squatted, bringing her face closer to Sanae's. "And so what if I was, you still failed. All I said was that you two were to work together and retrieve the dango stick from me, I never said that I would let you take it so easily. You failed and that's that, you did not retrieve this stick from my-," Anko brought her hand up to the spiky bun of hair atop her head in which she had stuck the dango stick through and her eyes widened,"-...head?"

Feeling around a bit more, her eyes widened as she noticed the absence of a certain small peice of wood.

The dango stick was gone.

No, this was all wrong. She could have sworn that she skewered that bun of hair with her dango stick; but where was it? Had it fallen during her decent to the ground, or maybe while she was kicking her two students' asses. No it couldn't have fallen, she made sure that she was extra careful when moving so that her dango stick would not fall out.

"What gives, where's my stick?" She froze when she heard Sanae giggle.

"L-looks like we didn't fail after all."

"What?" With a shaky arm, Sanae pointed up to the branch where he unconscious sister lay. Only half of her body could bee seen, as she was barely on the branch; her arm hung limply off the wood, swaying back and forth and clutched between her fingers was a long needle like piece of wood.

The dango stick.

Anko gasped, "when did she-"

"W-when you threw her into the tree, when you turned in mid-air and flung her, for a split second she was above your head, that was when she swiped it. We had both agreed that I would act as a diversion while you were coming for one of us and get your attention, and then that was when she would grab it," She coughed, cleared her throat the continued, "but unfortunately, those snakes of yours was a hindrance to us and in every way possible, it was impeding our plan's progress but they did help us by giving us an opening. So in other words, when I was grabbed and you flung Konoe; you actually gave Konoe an opening to grab your dango stick."

Right now Anko was a little surprised, she hadn't expected these two to actually get the stick, really, she didn't even expect the two sisters to last as long as they did let alone pass the challenge. It seems as if they were full of surprises.

Oh, she would have fun training these two. "Well, I'll be darned... then I guess you both pass... congrats, but for know how about we stop right now, I think I threw your sister a little too hard. So I'll take her to the hospital."

"Good... so does that mean that I can sleep?" Anko nodded. "Thank heavens." Sanae said, letting her head drop and hit the ground, pretty hard.

"You can sleep here, but that doesn't guarantee that I'll come back to get you... and there are some pretty big beast that live in this forest-...hm?" It was no good, there was a light snore from Sanae, she had already went to sleep. "Wow, she must have been pretty exhausted, anyway," she looked toward the branch were Konoe still hung loosely, "Time to get you to the hospital."

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Shino fell to his knees releasing a loud groan. His breathing was strained and and the rim of his collar was darkened, stained by the massive amount of sweat dripping from his face. Well, he had accomplished his goal, he fought with Naruto and as expected, got his ass handed to him.

A shadow cast itself over him, providing him with an aegis against the sun's rays. Looking up, he saw Naruto standing there with an expression of equanimity.

"Have you had enough, because if you haven't I can keep going on." Naruto said.

Well as of now Shino could do two things: one he could accept defeat and retire from the spar, or two: he could persevere and keep trying to face Naruto. Not only was Shino perceptive, but he was also smart as well, however, it did not take someone as smart as he to realize that, the way he was now, he didn't stand a chance against the blond powerhouse. The odds were stacked against him, first of all, he was seriously tired and secondly Naruto wasn't.

Throughout the entire spar Naruto hadn't even broken a sweat. Just what the hell was he?

Naruto extended his hand out, an end to the match coming to meet Shino; looks like he would not have to quit, Naruto would end it for him.

Taking his hand, Shino pulled himself up, "N-Naruto," he said between huffs, "H-how did you get so strong?"

"Why do you want to know?" Naruto asked. He then shook his hair wildly, a golden lions mane, it was devoid of any perspiration since he had not dropped a bead of sweat. There was nothing but dry air flying from those unruly locks.

"I-It is astounding to me as to how you have acquired so much skill and prowess and yet you are the same age as I, tell me, what is it that you did to get to your current level. If you don't mind, yes, I would like to know."

"I'll tell you that at a different time, trust me you'll find out soon enough, now why don't we go join Kurenai and Hinata?" Naruto said with a smile.

"Fine." Shino said with a slight flutter of breath in his speech.

As the two boys walked/limped back to Kurenai and Hinata Shino's breathing began to hasten. "Are you alright?" Naruto asked, "you're breathing pretty hard."

At first there was no response from Shino. "....Yes, I am fine, I'm just feeling a li-...little, light... headac-..ugh," his words died off as Shino's legs gave way and he dropped to the ground, unconscious.

"Shino?" Kurenai said.

"Shino-kun!" Hinata then followed up. They both ran up to Shino's not prone body, Naruto had already taken his pulse.

"Don't worry, he's fine, just exhausted. I guess I hit him on the head a little too hard."

Releasing a sigh of relief Hinata let go of the collar of her jacket. "W-well that's g-good to know, but don't you think that we should s-still, um you know, take him... to the h-hospital?"

Kurenai stood at his head, looking over him. "You're right, that's probably the best course of action right now. That little 'bump' on the head you gave him, Naruto, might actually be something more severe, it would be best if we want to avoid a pejorative situation. After all, we wouldn't want that little 'bump' showing up weeks later during a mission, now would we?"

"Hai!" Both Naruto and Hinata responded. Wow, she was surprised that Naruto still treated her like his superior, even though he was stronger than she. That was good though, scrupulous behavior like that would earn him some brownie points.

"Good, now let's go." Kurenai said as she scooped the Shino into her arms, "catch up you two, okay?"

"Hai!" With that she disappeared from sight in a swirl of leaves, a classic exit.

Naruto then turned to Hinata,

"W-wha-...," why was he looking at her like that, was there something on her face? She stood, eyes wide in anticipation, and she hoped that he would say something to her, because she knew that she certainly wouldn't.

" Well let's go, shall we?" Naruto said, extending a hand toward her. Hinata paused, feeling her heart skip a beat, a familiar heat resurrected itself in he stomach. Was he honestly expecting her to take his hand... if only he knew what that would do to her. So out of shock, Hinata muttered the only response that her trembling lips could force out.

"H-huh?"

"Come on, we're catching up to Kurenai-sensei." Naruto grabbed Hinata by the hand, turning his head so that he was now pulling her. Hinata let out a loud squeak and his arm dropped, pulled down by some unknown avoirdupois and it felt like dead weight. When he turned back around, he found Hinata sprawled on the ground... unconscious; her hand was still clutching his despite her being in that state.

Sighing, he squatted by her; it seems that she was still the same scared little girl she was when Naruto had first met her. Really, she was just too shy for her own good. With and annoyed expression and an arched eyebrow, Naruto scratched his head.

"She _did not_ just faint." As much he didn't want to believe it and as many times he repeated the phrase in his head, the truth was still right there in front of him. She really _did_ just faint. That would not go over well with him, specifically, it was annoying.

"I touch her hand and she faints... great." He said.

"Hinata..." he said giving her cheeks a few soft slaps to the face. Upon further inspection he saw that he cheeks were hot and florid; two light pink patches on her cheeks gave her face and innocent quality.

It was milliseconds later that Naruto came upon the empirical conclusion pertaining to what those pink patches were.

"Is she blushing?" Naruto's mind went to work, a super computer going through thousands of reasons per second as to why she was blushing; finally he hit the one that made the most sense. "...Yeah... I think I'll just come back to that one later." Naruto said pushing the reason out of his mind.

He smacked her once more, "Hinata... well that sucks." With slight grunt, Naruto picked Hinata up and slung her over his back. He leaned forward a bit so that she would not fall and with a burst of speed bounded off toward the hospital.

xxxxxX

Kurenai sat by the window of a small brightly lit room. The light had almost faded away and at the horizon in the distance a pale purple light seemed to reach toward the sky. The day was almost over, pretty soon it would be time for her to dismiss her students for the day.

She sighed, "So much time wasted, we could have done so much more today." Crossing her legs and resting her head on the palm of her hand, Kurenai released yet another sigh. First day and already someone was in the hospital and it was for something probably minor. Not the normal picture any sensei's perfect first day with their pupils.

A susurrus sounded and she heard the sound of faint mumbling beside her. She looked over to Shino who was in a standard hospital room bed to her right. Naruto had given him a really bad kick to the head back their, the way his head jarred when it was struck should have knocked him out but Naruto probably held back with that one.

_'Click', _Kurenai snapped her head when she heard the door open. What she saw next what she would never expected.

Standing at the now open fame of the door was Naruto with Hinata slung over his shoulder. She should not have been seeing things like this.

First Naruto beats Shino down, then next he takes Hinata out? Now, in comes Naruto just waltzing into the hospital with an unconscious Hyuuga girl slung over his shoulder. She hoped that he knew how awkward he looked at that moment.

"What happened to her?" Kurenai said.

"She fainted." Naruto responded nonchalantly.

"What..."

"Look, I touched her hand and she just flat out lost all consciousness, don't ask me why, don't ask me how just ask her... when she wakes up." Naruto placed Hinata down in a chair and gave her another quick glance. "Well, that's _if _she wakes up." He glanced back to Kurenai, "So what's his problem.

Naruto extended a finger toward Shino's shifting body.

"The doctors said that it wasn't that serious, just some mild head trauma." Kurenai responded.

"Hm, well that's good, at least it wasn't something fatal."

"Yeah, but on a different note... how did Hinata get like that?"

Naruto sighed, "I grabbed her hand because I wanted to catch up to you quickly but when I touched her, she simply... dropped like a rock."

Kurenai raised an eyebrow.

Looking at the darkening sky Naruto took out the small scroll that he was given. "What's that?" Kurenai asked.

"Oh this," casually, he tossed her the scroll and she opened it.

"A map of Konoha...?"

"Yes, but it's a map only used by tyros coming to the Anbu. If you look closely, you will be able to see that there are small pinpointed locations indicating every and all of the meeting and training locations for Anbu Black Op agents. It was given to me by my captain, the man you met with earlier. I was instructed to meet him at a specific one of those locations as soon as I was finished with my meeting with you, and seeing as how two of my comrades are out of commission I would like your permission to leave."

"If that's all then sure, you have my permission. But tell me, were you told what would be occurring at the meeting with your captain?"

"Actually, I was told; he said that I wouldn't just be meeting with him, instead I'd be meeting with the my entire team."

"Well, good luck Naruto... you know I still never would have guessed that _you of_all people would be an Anbu. You're pretty amazing you know." She tossed him back the small black scroll which he put back in his pocket.

Naruto made a hand sign before chuckling. "Wow, I'm amazing?... Never heard that one before," he said before his body faded away, the last of his words dying off as a low echo.

It saddened Kurenai to hear her student say something like that; had he never really been told that he was amazing? She thought that it wasn't the truth and that he was just saying that to be sarcastic but the sad smile on his face told her otherwise. She thought about his last words, they circled around her head. _'Never heard that before...' _

His words made her think about how hard of a life he must have had to be able to say something like that and really mean it. No she would not allow something like that go on. Vowing in her mind, she would make sure that Naruto would never be able to say things like that ever again.

xxxxX

Naruto glided from rooftop to rooftop, flying through the village at mach speed, brown buildings and green trees in the distance, all rushing past him in an instant. As he continued on further, eventually the browns and blacks faded, giving way to only the greens of trees.

He stopped on a branch, harshly making it crack and with great dexterity slipped out his little black scroll. He smoothly opened it, his head reading from left to right, eyes scanning to paper with robotic perception. He looked south. "This way!" Naruto rolled the scroll back up and put it back into his pocket. Then he bounded off into the darkness of the forest, leaving a thoroughly tattered branch behind him.

The leaves fluttered past his face, brushing against his face. High in the canopy he could smell the stinging scent of damp greenery coming from below.

Strangely, on Naruto's perspective, the forest of death was pretty soothing at night, especially when one was flying through the trees like Naruto was at the moment. Even though it had become dark, Naruto's vision was not impaired. He never really understood why his eyes worked the way they did, in the dark he could see just as well as he could in the day, if not better. Most people would need to activate a minor night vision ninjutsu to gain the vision that so easily came to him in the dark. It was one of the few things that he didn't understand about himself, and one of the few things that he did not wish to investigate. There was something in the back of his mind telling him not to go there, to just stay away.

Slowly, as he noticed, the trees grew farther apart, until they gave way to a small clearing. In the distance he could see a large creek, his enhanced night vision allowed for him to observe the rushing torrent of water. His eyes then locked onto the one thing that mattered in that dark green clearing of grass and trees; his captain standing in the clearance with his hands behind his back. His tiger mask a pale dusky white.

In the shadow, Saito looked somehow ominous, ghostlike, his Anbu vest transparent in the bitter darkness. Naruto sneered this apparition that was his captain. Now he was in friendly territory, the mask could come off, fully.

He landed in front of his captain with nothing but a small rustle in the leaves, he would have landed silently but he wanted to make sure that he was noticed.

"Taichou." Naruto said kneeling down on one leg, bowing his head.

"Taichou, Naruto, you are addressing me as your captain, yet you are not even an Anbu member yet, tell me, why is it that you do that?"

Naruto looked up, his expression solid. "I'm am but a Genin and you are an Anbu, I am below you and due to the certain circumstances that I am placed under I will be calling you that in the future, so why not practice now?"

"Ah, a scrupulous one you are indeed, you'll make an excellent addition to my squad."

"Thank you." Naruto responded standing up."So, I do remember you mentioning that I would come here to meet the you and the rest of your _team_," he looked around seeing nothing, "by the way, where is said team?"

"Cutting to the chase as usual I see Naruto. Well, if you want to meet the team, then by all means... meet the team." Saito followed by allowing his hand to sway in a horizontal arch in front of Naruto's face.

Almost an instant later, Naruto felt it; three other intense presences all around him. Killing intent as thick as a block of ice, dense and potent. It was not only mentally terrifying but it was also opulent. The horrid sensation came in abundance, all of it aimed at him. Icy cold daggers stabbing in to his sides, his back, his neck, his death was prominent around him. He could feel each one of them, both individually and as a whole unit pouring their killer intent onto his very existence. As of now he had no protection, no aegis to shield him from the feeling of literal death clutching him from all directions.

Through it all Naruto kept his eyes on his captain. On his left, one wearing an eagle mask, to his right the another wearing a baboon's visage. The last one behind him, wearing a lion's mask." Six, empty and hollow eye holes boring into him.

He would have blinked, but that would be showing weakness and that was what he could not tolerate. But to be honest he wasn't scared, he had seen worse. Compared to the Hokage, these guys had the killer intent of seven-year old children, well not counting his killer intent as a seven year old. Still he didn't expect to be encircled like he was by his 'comrades' as they are called.

He sighed. "The team, I presume?" Saito nodded. Naruto still wanted to know how they always did that weird disappear/appear out of nowhere technique

"Impressive, not even a flinch... you didn't even blink most of the new guys, when we do this, wet their pants." Saito's voice carried an odd static behind it when he spoke through his mask, as if he was speaking through a radio.

"Well. then I guess that I'm not most guys." Naruto responded coolly .

"A pithy response my friend." Saito said.

A shifting of clothes occurred behind him, Naruto's ears twitched at the sound. Another thing that he did not bother to investigate about himself, his extremely acute hearing.

A static tone sounded after the ruffle of clothing. "So this is the new kid huh?" It said. Based on the voice's base, Naruto knew instantly that this person behind him was male.

Not bothering to turn around Naruto fired back, "Yeah I'm the new _kid, _what's it to you?"

There was no response so Naruto turned around. In front of him stood a lion-faced Anbu garbed in the same attire as Saito. As Naruto stared into the blank holes on the Anbu's mask, he sneered. "Well?"

The Anbu let out a chuckle. "Kid I don't think you know who you're talking to." He then placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder which Naruto stared at vigorously.

He then heard another voice to his left, this time it was female. "Yeah.. Naruto, I have heard rumors about you, but let me tell you that you're nowhere near as strong as Sakai is." Naruto turned to the female anbu, donning an eagle mask and chuckled. He remembered seeing her back when he took out that Jonin a year ago.

"Oh on the contrary, I don't think that he'll be a problem..." Naruto replied.

Another static voice to his right this time. "Hm, don't you think that that's a little arrogant?" This time it was man, he was the man in the baboon mask. Naruto also had a faint memory of him from one year ago.

Naruto shrugged. "Maybe, but it's the truth." He quickly grabbed the Anbu's arm, and as smoothly as flowing water, turned around and hurled him away. A prickling sensation entered Naruto's wrist when the lion-faced Sakai twisted his entire body so that he landed on his feet."I'm sorry, what was the truth again," he asked arrogantly before twisting and throwing Naruto over his body, this time with much more force than Naruto did with him.

For an instant the world looped around and Naruto was in the air, looking directly into the Sakai's eye holes, his expression impassive. An instant later, time regained normal speed and the Anbu's mask went rushing away as he was thrown into a tree twenty yards away, cracking the wood.

A rookie, attempting to best a veteran, who the hell did this kid think he was? Walking up to Naruto's now upside down body, embedded into a tree, the Anbu knelt down so that his face was level with Naruto's.

"Listen to me," he said, holding Naruto by the side of his head. "Don't you EVER do that again, if you do I'll kill you."

A glob of spit to his shiny mask was Naruto's response.

"You brat, you're dead now!" Once again, like his captain, this Anbu was showing a LOT of emotion, he must have been really strong. He pulled his fist back preparing to strike, then, surprisingly, he stopped, thrown off by an odd sensation in the back of his head. The finely polished blade of a kunai stuck out of the Anbu's skull, blood pouring from the wound.

Nausea crept over him as he keeled over and yelled in pain, closing his eyes behind his mask.

He opened them.

Believe it or not he was standing in front of Naruto who was standing as well, a smirk on his face. "W-wha..." his voice trailed off, making his confusion apparent.

"That my friend was a genjutsu." Naruto said, elaborating for the lion-faced Anbu.

He was taken back. What genjutsu, when was he ever placed within the confines of said technique. It made no sense at all, no more sense than having your head impaled by a kunai and then one blink later being completely untouched.

"When did you-" he voice trailed off, replaced by a low groan of stupor. The flummoxed Anbu folded his arms and turned to his comrades. "Was I really?" When they all nodded he turned back to Naruto.

Naruto raised one finger. "It's simple, really. You see you never threw me into that tree over there," he said pointing to the tree that Sakai thought that he tossed the boy into. "By then you were already in my trap."

"What trap , when did you activate it?"

"Technically, I did not activate it, you did. It's a basic genjutsu, a personal creation of mine, where whoever looks into the eyes of the user when he cast the genjutsu gets instantly pulled into it. It works with distance as well, the closer the eye contact is, the more powerful the genjutsu is and the less chakra I have to expend sustaining it. And since I caught you at point-blank range I had to use little to no chakra at all. That was probably the reason why you didn't detect it."

Sakai went over what just happened in his mind. Naruto said that he had been caught at point blank range, if that's so then, that can only mean that their faces were a mere inches apart. That meant-"

"So you hit me with it when I threw you?"

"Correct," was Naruto's response. "Even though I never hit the tree, I was thrown, and that's when I hit you with it."

"Bastard... but meh, that was fair. I'm Yuuji Sakai."

Naruto turned his head to his captain. "Yuuji?"

"My brother." Saito said with a dismissive wave.

Naruto turned to the other two Anbu who introduced themselves as Shima Touei , in the Baboon mask and in the eagle mask was the only female member of the team, Haruno Yukari. Naruto questioned the name. "Did you say Haruno?" Naruto said now noticing the stream of flowing hot pink hair behind the outline of Yukari's mask. Naruto surprised himself at how late he had picked it up, for someone as observant as he, one would think that he would have noticed something as obvious as hair color.

"Yes, I said Haruno." She responded, holding up a few locks of her pink hair.

"Hm, an Anbu from the Haruno clan, no offense but, I never thought there were any. I thought that the only nin in your clan, unfortunately, was Haruno Sakura"

"None taken, I'm well aware of my clan's status as a non-shinobi inhabited clan. In fact me and my younger cousin Sakura are the only two... wait do you know her?"

"Unfortunately, yes."

"I see, I know she can be a bit bombastic with her passions at times but, forgive her she's only a young girl." Yukari said with a chuckle. Even though Naruto had only met her, he could tell right away that he would be able to get along with Yukari. Even though she was related to her, Yukari didn't seem at all like that feckless excuse for kunoichi that went under the name of Sakura. It was funny how two people whom were from the same clan could be so different.

"True, but her _passions _can be a tad bit annoying at times." Yukari giggled at the small sliver of sarcasm Naruto laced his tone with. "Anyway," Naruto said turning back to Saito," I've met the team now, I know their names they now mine, what now?"

"I'll be frank with this then." Saito began. "I have received orders from The Third himself saying that we are to patrol the outer perimeter of Konoha, meaning during this patrol, nobody she be inside the village. We are to remain outside until tomorrow, and return in the morning. Sakai you take to the west, Touei, the east, Yukari and I will head south, and that leaves you Naruto to cover the north. We are each to head in our separate directions, cut through the city and exit through the northern, southern, western and eastern gates."

"Is that all?" Naruto asked.

"Oh, Naruto I have a message from our Lord Hokage, he says that this is, a test for you, to see how you will measure up in the actual field. He also says not to worry, this is one of the easier missions." That comment sparked a series of chuckles from the rest of the team which caused Naruto to grumble.

"Geez that's just like him, whatever, is _that_ everything?" Naruto said folding his arms.

"Yes, that's it," Saito said, tossing him a small black device.

"Radio?" Naruto said slipping it in his ear.

"Yes, we are all to stay within radio communication," and with a swift chopping motion he uttered one word: "Go!"

Then they were gone, leaving a single expanding ring of dust in their wake. "How the hell do they do that?" Naruto said, making a single hand sign before fading away.

Moments later he appeared on the sturdy branch of a large tree. He was in the forest of death, he was to leave the village by cutting through and exiting through the northern gate. He had his orders and he was to follow them, no matter what.

He was gone, bounding off the trees, and rapidly moving through the air. A blur of motion gliding threw the darkness.

xxxxxxxX

Sanae snapped her eyes open. OK, there was something wrong, first off she could not see a thing and in her mouth, she tasted... something. Something... awful, nasty, it tasted like crap, if that was what crap actually tasted like. But dammit, what the hell was this crap? As her vision returned she noticed fine little black needles stick in front of her, that was weird... and why were they sideways.

Upon further observation she realized that those little needles were blades of grass and the reason why they were sideways was because her head was on the ground. Her eyes clicked left and right then up... she gasped.

She was still in the forest of death! She could see the outlines of twisting branches and every few seconds the rustling of leaves. The sounds of a myriad of animals, permeated the air, screeches and squeals and couple of howls, some clicks and every now and then a growl. Some of them sounded, for the most part, not dangerous at all while others... well let's just say Sanae wasn't willing to investigate the sources of _those_ sounds.

Sitting up on her bottom she rubbed her forehead, feeling a rather large bump. "Ow... my head...ah..ugh..twuah!" Well, now she knew just what that horrible taste was. As long as it wasn't crap she was happy, but on the other hand dirt was the tastiest of substances. Wait, was her spit brown... eww!

Wiping her tongue with her shirt and standing up, she looked around. It was dark, really dark. How long had she been asleep exactly?

"I can't believe Anko-sensei, she really left me, next time I see her I'm going to give her a piece of my mind." Her foot, hit the ground, followed by her other one but she stopped. "W-where am I?" She said in a scared tone. It seems that she was now aware of the fact she was in the middle of the forest of death _while_ it was dark. That wasn't good.

"H-hello...?" she yelled out lamely, her legs shaking a little bit. Her answer was a series of howls and shrieks from the resident animals in the forest, she knelt down and squeaked.

_'Great idea, alert the killer animals in the forest that you're there, not you brightest action Sanae' _Dusting herself off Sanae once again began walking through the forest. She could barely see a thing, and she couldn't remember the way Anko brought her into this stupid forest. Now how the hell was she supposed to get home?

She yelped when a roar sounded off in the distance. Her pace quickened, whatever that was she didn't want to find out. Another how, this time she screamed and broke out into a full sprint. The shallow and rapid sounds of her breath were the only things she heard, well excluding the loud patter of rapid footsteps behind her.

Putting a little chakra into her step she sprinted into an even faster run. Something was following her, and she did NOT like it. She was... afraid. Letting out another scream, she leaped forth an placed herself among the treetops. She flew through the leaves like a little swallow afraid for its life and that was exactly what she was, prey running from a predator.

There was a crunch of several branches, each one getting closer to her and seconds later another roar.

Damn, whatever the hell this thing was, it was smart... and STILL following her. Frantic to get out of the forest, Sanae began leaping into air, above the treetops, in hopes of seeing the which direction the village was.

Where was it... where was it, had Anko really brought them out, this deep into the forest of death? While in mid air, the dark tops of trees flew by underneath her until they rushed up to meet her and she was back down among the branches. Still, that rather large... thing was following her.

Dammit!

She tried once more, throwing herself above the canopy. "Yes!" This time she spotted it, the dark outline of the village to her right. Once again, Sanae went down into the trees, crossing her arms in front of her to shield her face just in case an branches decided to attack her. The branches came down fast, she saw one, small but sizable, it would be tricky to land on but she was sure she could pull it off.

As the branch came closer she stuck one of her legs out, bad idea. With a yelp Sanae, slipped forward off the branch going into a fast plummet toward the ground. Before she knew it, air escape her lungs and she was screaming with all her might. She couldn't help it, fear did that to a person.

Crack. She hit a branch, before going through several more branches that coincidentally softened--if you can even say the word 'softened'-- her landing. She landed on her side, hard.

"O-ow...my arm... that really hurt a-," she was cut off by the sound of low growl. Her eyes snapped wide open, she had almost forgotten, she was being followed by...something.

The sound came from in front of her, a low raspy growl sending chills up her spine.

A-anko-s-sensei, if this is a joke, I'm not laughing."

Then the sound of four paws lightly hitting the dirt came closer.

"T-this isn't funny anymore."

A growl.

"O-okay, I admit, I'm scared now..."

A roar.

Sanae screamed. She held her hands up to her head and switched into the fetal position, her body shaking violently.

Two golden eyes opened in the darkness, staring directly at her and behind them Sanae could see the faint outline of a large rather feline body.

She gasped and closed her eyes when a massive tiger came in to view, its wide maw open slightly so that Sanae could see it's impressive array of teeth.

That thing was huge, the biggest that she had ever seen in her life and now the last.

It brought its large muzzle to Sanae and sniffed the now whimpering girl. "Please, don't eat me, please don't eat me please don't eat me..." Sanae continued her desperate mantra in hopes that the animal, by some unknown thaumaturgy, turn its head and decide against making her its meal.

"Someone, save me, please... I-I'm...scared." She yelped when she felt the slimy surface of the tiger's tongue rub against her face causing her to let out an 'ahhhh' of disgust and fear.

"Anyone... please...-" that's when she was cut off by the sound of someone laughing high above her. Seconds, later, she heard a thump and the tiger in front of her roar and moved back. Opening her eyes, she saw the same tiger, wildly shaking it's head and bucking like a bull. On top of its cranium was... Naruto.

What the hell? Why was Naruto here, but she couldn't complain, if not for him, she surely would have been dinner.

Pulling out a kunai Naruto, hung to the tiger's ear, his legs wrapped tightly around the animal's neck.

"Hehe, you better look away Sanae-chan, this might get bloody." She thought about it for seconds, maybe she would look away, but she couldn't transfixed by the sight in front of her. Without fear Naruto, clung to the animal, in fact he was smiling. She could not believe it, how was Naruto doing this, wasn't he scared or something?

The tiger stopped jostling for a just a moment, giving Naruto enough time to react. Cocking his arm back, Naruto struck the beast on its head causing it to release a roar of pain as its head jerked up before it went down. Naruto was still, holding onto the beast ear but it would not be like that anymore.

Releasing roar, the tiger reared his head, this time with a bit more force than the other times. "Alright big boy, I'll get off, but first." Naruto grappled the tiger by its neck and jumped, off twisting his body and planting his feet on the ground so that his face was now next to the tiger's. Naruto's well-toned muscles rippled as he twisted the tiger, heaving it through the air and slamming it.

No way... that was NOT Naruto. Sanae, refused to believe it, there was just no way that a Genin could be this strong and ruthless. Letting out a weak defeated growl, the tiger slowly rose to its feet wary of Naruto standing right there. That was funny, the hunter had now become the hunted.

It stood and brought it's mouth to Naruto's face, opening it while releasing a little growl. Naruto narrowed his eyes, the beasts breath smelled of blood and raw meat. Naruto said one thing. "Leave." Quickly the tiger, whipped its head around, with another growl, brushing its tail against Naruto's face. With another growl, it was gone.

"Hey Sanae-chan, what are you doing h-..ugh!" He was cut off by Sanae driving herself into his chest.

"Naruto... I-I was so scared, it started chasing me... and- and-" Sanae froze, realizing what she was doing, although his chest did feel nice she was sure that she did not want to be there. He wouldn't let her forget this moment. Sanae stepped back, sniffling. She wiped the tears from her face. "S-sorry," she said, her face red.

"N-naruto, w-what exactly are you doing here?" He looked at her seriously, she held her breath. This was a completely different Naruto.

"Sanae, the question is, what exactly were _you_ doing here?" He placed both his hands on her shoulders and she blushed. "I tell me."

"I-I was," she looked away, "training with my sensei."

"Training... right and where is said sensei?" If he wasn't mistaken, Mitarashi Anko was her Konoe's sensei. Speaking of Konoe... "and hey where's you sister."

Sanae then told Naruto about how everything happened, how Anko brought them here to train, injured Konoe, and how Sanae had fallen asleep expecting Anko to come back for her.

"Oh."

"Yeah, that's what happened, and anyway, like _I_ was saying, what were you doing here in the first place?"

He should have expected that, however, that wasn't something that she needed to know. Well, it would have been something esoteric in the past, but seeing as how he now had the right to tell whomever he wanted about his power, that was no the case anymore. "If you must know, I'm on a mission."

"With your team and on the first day?" Sanae's obvious disbelief made her tone seem all the more intent on finding out the truth. Truth she wanted and truth she would get.

"No, not with my team," he paused, "at least not with the team that you know of."

What the hell was he talking about, what other team could a genin possibly have on their first day as an official nin? That's when her Fumina wit kicked in. Something was wrong, she could just tell. First his odd clones now this? She could tell that Naruto was hiding something, even the dullest of people could figure this out. But it seemed that she wouldn't have investigate this for Naruto would tell her on his own.

"What do you mean?" She said awaiting his next words with diligence.

He sighed, obviously this was something big. She could tell because his hands never left her shoulders and that meant either he was trying to harass her or he was being serious. Something told her that it was the latter.

"How can I say this... you know what, I'm just going to come right out and say this. The reason that I'm here is because I'm on a mission... an Anbu mission."

Stop, time for a rewind. he was obviously lying.

"No I'm being serious, why were you out here?" She said laughing at what she thought was his excuse.

"I'm not lying, I'm being serious, I wouldn't be here if I weren't." Well he did have a point, kind of. But that still did not mean that he was telling this truth. "Listen, you shouldn't be out here, its cold and to be honest, you will most likely die out here."

"And what about you?" Sanae asked, folding her arms.

"I can handle myself." Naruto said confidently. "So don't worry ab-" Naruto suddenly froze, to Sanae's surprise and tapped his ear. "Naruto here," he began. Upon further inspection she saw that Naruto was speaking into a small black radio earpiece. Maybe he was telling the truth.

"No, not yet, I'm heading there now, I got a little sidetracked along the way, over"

He paused for a moment, Sanae's eyes never leaving his face.

"Yeah, I found something, a person, over. A female, a ranked Genin of the village," Naruto then turned and gave her a quick look up and down. "She's a Fumina, over."

There was another period of silence where the absence of Naruto's voice allowed for the sounds of the forest to be heard. A second later Naruto resumed his conversation with whoever it was on the other side of that radio. "I don't know all the details exactly but I already questioned her. Apparently, she and her teammate were brought here to train by their sensei, a certain Mitarashi Anko. And you know how she can get, over."

Another pause. "I understand; I'm going to have to take a side track from this mission, I'll escort the Fumina back to the village, I don't think she'll be able to make it out by herself. After that I'll resume the mission as long as possible."

Naruto sighed. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, whatever, over and out." With that Naruto let his hand fall from his ear and back onto Sanae's shoulder. He looked at her with unblinking eyes. "Do you believe me?" he asked. At the moment all she could do was nod, her head moving frantically up and down. At first she did not believe him but the way he spoke just now, for some reason convinced her.

She still couldn't believe it, well it was more like she didn;t want to accept it. She had always thought that she was pretty close to Naruto when it came to skill and now she was coming to find out that he was skilled enough to join the Anbu all along. It kind of made her feel a bit weak inside, first of all how did she not notice it before? How could she overlook such a prominent source of power sitting next to her every single day, someone so powerful had been her friend?

That was what he looked like just at that moment, powerful, in control, professional. If not for his unconvincing attire and lack of a face mask, she would have said that at that moment he looked exactly like an Anbu, he definitely had the aura of one, that was for sure.

But what she was even more sure of was that she needed to get to hospital, and quickly. "Naruto, I need to leave this place."

"Well, I know that-," he was cut off.

"No you don't understand I need to get to the hospital, I need to go see Konoe... now!"

"She's in the hospital?"

"Yes." Sanae had almost forgotten that she didn't tell Naruto that her sister was in the hospital when she was recapping all the events of her day. "Can you take me there?"

"Off course," he turned crouching down so that she could climb onto his back. She was, to say the least a bit hesitant.

"I can still travel on my own you know."

"But this ways faster, trust me." Honestly, she really didn't know if she could trust Naruto, he had been hiding such grave secrets from them, who knew what else he could be hiding. Despite her diffidence she still climbed onto her blond 'friend's' back. "Hold tight." he said.

And seconds later she wished that she had, they were traveling so fast that she almost fell off the instant they took flight. Since when was he so fast? He was crazy-... no insanely fast for his size. The wind whipped her face as if it was a solid substance trying to throw her off her blond friend. For the most part the ride was silent... and fast, oh sooo fast.

Sanae really didn't mind the lack of speech between the two, although she had so many questions to ask him. Like how he got so strong and how long ago did he begin training. But at the moment, she just wanted to think.

About a mile later, they were out of the trees and back into village. "Naruto?"

"Hm?" he said, funny he thought that she had fallen asleep. "What is it?"

There was a brief pause. "T-thanks for saving me, back there."

"No problem." He actually expected her to question him some more, maybe this info was just a bit too much for her to process at the moment. He probably would act the same way... probably not.

The buildings flew by until they arrived at their destination, the hospital.

Planting his feet on the ground, he let Sanae off. "And here we are, I told you it'd be fast." All Sanae did was nod. "Listen, as much as I want to see Konoe right now, I have to get back to my mission.' Sanae nodded.

He turned to walk away," I'll come visit her in the morning. And-," he turned around, "I'll tell you both everything when I get back, alright, I promise."

She nodded again.

With that he was gone, his body fading away like dispersing mist.

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Whew I'm done. Once again I apologize for the tardiness, I know, I could have hurried up a bit but hey I have other things to attend to. You know like that thing that I mentioned in the first author's note, the one that required me to be away from tech for a long time... yeah that one.

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and all that it had to offer. I bet nobody was expecting Naruto to be on a team with another Haruno, ha. Just to let you know, putting a Haruno on Naruto's team was actually a request. One of my friends asked if I could make Sakura uber strong and bring her onto Naruto's team, and if anyone's ever read my profile, they would know that I have fervent hatred of Sakura. Like I really hate her, but just to shut him up I told him that I'd put a Haruno on the team, I never really said that it would be Sakura so I guess I'm safe.

Oh and one more thing, I've been thinking about this lately, if you guys want, I could turn this into a Naruto/ Yugito pairing if you guys want. But I always see stuff like that so I'm a little against, I'd much rather go with my golden pair of Naru/hina but I want what you want, unless something happens and I end up not caring. But anyway tell me your opinion on that matter.

Hopefully this chap will get a good amount of reviews, I'm at like sixty six right now. SO do me favor and get me to like ninety, maybe even higher, that'd be freaking awesome.

But for now, until the next chapter.

Thanx

Latr

Next chapter: Veterans and Tyros

GrIm'S sTePpIn' OuT


	4. Veterans and Tyros

Hey people, I'm back and better than ever, well at least I think I am. Um as you all know this is my fourth chapter. You guys really helped me out with the last chapter, I mean my review count went all the way from sixty-six to one hundred and twenty. That's almost double and when I saw it, I was all like, "yeah!"

Ok so far from what I've seen, I don't think people want this to become a Naruto/Yugito pairing. Right now most people are saying that they want this to become either a Naru/hina pairing or a Naruto/fumina fic. So as of now, Naru/yugi is officially eliminated from the running. I've also noticed something that I find rather intriguing. Until recently I had not noticed that people liked my two OC's that much, I actually thought that I didn't do a good job of incorporating them in them into the story, but the readers have told me otherwise. So for everyone who has complemented me on the development and presentation on the two Fumina sisters I would like to say thank you, I really appreciate it.

Alright, so I won't hold you back any longer, I just have to say a couple of things before you continue on. For one, expect some, key word "some", action in this chapter, um, I plan to keep things fairly simple and for all those who have either commented on it or have been thinking it... yes Anko will get into trouble.

Well other than that, I've got nothing more to say except...

Enjoy and if you don't, you'd better have either money or some form of gummy snacks.

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Crimson Dawn: Uzumaki Naruto

Why is it that there can never be such a thing as the perfect ninja? Why is it that a ninja can never be born without any bizarre qualities, it is a simple fact that there is no such thing as a ninja who is both competent and _normal_. But why, why can't shinobi of the hidden Leaf just be normal, what is so wrong with being nondescript?

The Third Hokage, Sarutobi, released a long and intense sigh as he stared into the nervous face of one of his more outre Nin, Mitarashi Anko. Sure she was competent, oh she was very competent as a kunoichi, that he would not doubt for even a second. But she was just to eccentric, in other words she was one of the stronger Nin of the village and of course she wasn't perfect.

Anko sat, completely still, her legs firmly pressed together with her hands attached to her lap. She could tell that the Hokage was pissed, any moment now he would explode.

"Anko, so let me get this correct... first off you brought you two Genin in the forest of death, injured one of them, then left the other to fend for herself?" His intertwined fingers were just barely over the bridge of his nose, Anko knew what that meant, he was really serious.

Any moment now....

"W-well, when you say it like that you make it sound so bad." She mentally slapped herself, very aware of what she had just said. Her body cringed on its own, when the Hokage's eyes opened wide with what she thought was frustration, or maybe it was rage. Either one would be detrimental to her and maybe to her rank as a Jonin.

Kaboom.

"Then how _do _you want me to say this Anko! Are you aware of what you did? Bringing to Genin into the forest of death on their first day, what were you thinking?!" His tone of voice made it sound more like a demand rather than a question. Most likely it was; to her it felt like he was commanding her to tell him.

Behind him the night stood still, a blanket of black linen draped along the sky. His window was open, bringing in a rather chilly breeze, perhaps that's what was making her cold, she hoped. "I-I just thought that they needed to get a taste of actual danger, that's all..." she finished off lamely. Right now it was as if she were the academy student being lectured by her Chunin sensei, well, Sarutobi was "The Professor" so in a way they both fit the their roles.

The old man slammed his palm on his desk, the wood cracking on impact. "No Anko, that's the thing you were _not_ thinking! What good can possibly come from bringing two fresh Genin into one of the most dangerous places in the entire village, did you not think that there would be consequences?"

Anko was silent, actually at the time she wasn't thinking about the consequences at all. She looked off to the side, her face carrying a look of shame. She hoped that her students weren't as strict as the Hokage was, she didn't want to be placed into an odium because of one _little_ slip up. Maybe it wasn't that little...

As of now, she was at a loss for words, she couldn't think of anything to say to the old man, it was more like she didn't want to.

"Well?" Sarutobi asked once more, his subordinate's silence spoke volumes. Anko was obviously ashamed of herself, both she and he knew it. He waited, letting the silence hang in the air like thick fog, it was broken when Sarutobi's finger began tapping the table in a steady rhythm. It was an old habit but then again he was an old person and he never could fully get rid of it.

The beating of skin against wood served as a sanctuary for Anko. She concentrated on the sound, she absorbed it, right now anything would be sufficient enough, she just needed something to take her mind away from the fierce glare Sarutobi was giving her.

But then another sound, broke the silence, drawing her conscience away from her self-induced concentration. Sarutobi sighed, yet again.

"Anko, I'm ashamed, you do realize that, right?" His tone had died down, it was calm now, but she could tell that he was not and neither was she. "People, lose their positions as Jonin sensei for mishaps like this, and _you_ are no exception."Anko's eyes widened.

She knew what that meant, she would lose her position as a sensei. OK that wasn't good, she had never really practiced tergiversation before but right now she would use it, right now she needed to be _deliberately_ ambiguous... either that or she would beg.

"No no, please, Hokage-sama, this is m-my first team, I promise just give me one more chance. I won't screw this up!"

"And how do I know that you won't?" The rasp in his voice made him sound slightly condescending. "I will keep this under wraps Anko but I will not keep you as a sensei, however, I am not so sure that your two students will want to keep what you did completely esoteric.

Now was definitely the time to beg. "No! I-I _can_ prove it to you, I can. Just give me one more chance, I _will_ prove it to you!"

"Silence!" He raised one hand, promptly silencing her. When the the silence ensued he could still hear her, was she whimpering?

Anko pressed her palms together, placing them over her head. He hadn't expected this. He mentally sighed to himself, she was a good ninja and she could teach those girls a thing or two. However, as always the good shinobi always had a flaw and Anko's was her tendency to take things to the extreme. He couldn't really trust that she wouldn't do something like this again, however, he couldn't really be certain that he would find a better Jonin for those two.

Anko was trained in the art of interrogation and deception which led him to wonder whether or not her little break-down actually held any veracity. But nonetheless, she was the perfect Jonin for the two, if he recalled her students were both Fuminas. He was very aware of the genius that the Fumina clan possessed and it was because of their clan's intelligence that he thought Anko would be the perfect sensei for them.

The intelligence of a Fumina plus the art of deception, equaled one dangerous nin or in this case two. But maybe he was wrong.

Anko's whimpering ceased, and she did the unexpected. With her hands still placed above her head, Anko dropped to her knees, dipping her head down. Sarutobi could only see the top of her spiky bun sticking up over the edge of his desk. He heard one simple word.

"Please." That must have been hard to do, especially for Anko. He was convinced now, she really meant it.

Anko had never once thought of getting to her knees for _any_ man, however, now was not the time for her to hold on to her pride, she really wanted this job. There was a pause and noting happened, she contemplated on saying something else but was stopped when Sarutobi spoke.

"Anko stand up... I will let you keep your position." Like the sun, Anko's head popped up from the horizon of his desk, her face bright and cheerful.

"R-really, Oh thank you Hokage-sama, thank you," she pounced him, drawing him into a tight embrace, "thank you!"

No air.

"Let.... go." He said, feeling himself plop back down into his seat, the air rushing back into his lungs. He cleared his throat. "I'm only doing this because, of your students. True you may put them in danger, which you won't do anymore, but your skills are a perfect match for two girls of their heritage. So in other words, I'm only letting you keep your job _because_ your student's are Fumina, had it been anyone else, then I would stripped you of your position with no questions asked. So do not take this as me showing you compassion, because I am not, I'm merely looking into what would benefit your pupils the most. And unfortunately, that is you.

Hey, that was good enough for her, shit, screw compassion, she had her job so she was happy, not to mention immensely grateful.

Anko's smile grew wider know, she would prove to him that she could be a competent sensei, starting tomorrow...

With a wave of his hand, Sarutobi sent Anko on her way. Before leaving the gave one final squeal of delight.

"Thank you, I won't let you down!" She said before happily making her exit, all Sarutobi saw was a flash of purple hair fly through the door before it closed.

He sighed once more, taking out his pipe and filling it with tobacco, he lit it and took a long drag. The smoke left his lips in the form of a shimmering ring. "Anko, you're a good ninja but you're just too eccentric at times.... I'm much too old for this shit."

With that he gave one final puff before turning back down to the mountain of paperwork strewn out on his desk. Looks like he'd be working through the night.

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Naruto tapped, his left ear, the small radio emitted a brief amount of static then a quick bleep. "Naruto here, I am in position, perimeter north, covered, over." The cool chill of the night air brushed against his neck, his hairs stood on end like a porcupine on the defensive. He wrapped himself in his own arms. Boy, it sure was cold today.

Static. "Good Naruto, circle your area once more, over." Saito's voice sounded slightly energetic, like he was excited.

"Taichou, why is it that The Third has only sent us five to patrol the entire perimeter of Konoha? I mean we're in Fire country, which is much too large for one team to handle, over." He crouched down , wary of an owl flying overhead, looking down he saw nothing but darkness. Carefully, he sat down on the branch he was using for support, but of course he had to be careful unless he wanted to fall five stories through the air. Sometimes Naruto thought of the trees in Fire Country as being too high, but their height was probably what was keeping Konoha the _Hidden _leaf village.

There was a giggle and Yukari's voice sounded over the radio. "Oh please, why would he do that? We're not the only one's patrolling the perimeter, over."

Loosely dangling his legs in the air, hunched over placing his chin withing his two palms. He flipped over, now hanging upside down. His hands were now hanging limply, his fingers pointed at the forest floor, if there even was a floor; he was so high that he couldn't tell anymore. "Really, over."

"Yeah, there's probably two more teams other than us patrolling, over."

Naruto swung back and forth. "Hm, that makes sense I guess," he paused, "So on missions like these what do you do, if there's no action? Over."

There was a brief pause, the forest instantly sprang to life with the sounds of the many woodland creatures resident to this forest. Man, this was so much different from the Forest of Death, no giant tigers, no monster snakes, nothing at all, just your normal little regular creatures. It seems that when you left Konoha's Forest of Death everything else just seemed really boring.

"Well, we do what we're doing now, over." Yukari said.

"What you mean talk, over." Naruto asked, if this was all that he had to do on patrol missions he could clearly tell that when he became an official Anbu member this would definitely become a perfunctory duty. "But talking is boring, over."

Naruto regretted saying that. "Then why don't you shut your trap and maintain radio silence like all the other newbies, over!" Sakai's voice crackled into Naruto's ears, it felt like someone was stuffing paper into them. He winced from the sudden change in volume but then his lips curled into frown, which was really a smile considering that he was upside down. That was funny, was Sakai still made about that little mishap earlier?

Well as of now, Naruto was bored and needed to find a way to entertain himself. He guessed that teasing a future comrade would serve as a great source of entertainment. "Oh, you seem to be angered, what, did all the other noobs trick you into a genjutsu as well, over?"

That comment sparked a series of laughter from the rest of the team, their voices shrouded in the static of the radio. He heard Sakai grumble at that one. "Shut up, you just got lucky, over..." Sakai muttered.

Naruto chuckled, that really did get his mind off his boredom, he would have to make fun of Sakai every time he got bored. "Sorry man, I'm just bored that's all, over."

"Whatever... over." Naruto chuckled once more, he had come to realize something; the Anbu were actual people with actual feelings living actual lives. Despite their rank and the many fallacies and dogmas surrounding them, the Anbu were just like normal people... well almost like normal people. He needed to be honest with himself, being an Anbu member did not seem so bad to him, it actually seemed like it would be... fun. But Naruto knew that he and his robot mind could not jump to conclusions so easily, after all there was much more to being an Anbu Black Op. There would be times were he had to be serious, times where he had to make life and death decisions, and then times like this where the members of Anbu were at their closest to being normal ninja. He would just have to wait and see.

Well, his waiting would have... to wait. Naruto's ear flicked, there was something there, something approaching him. He tapped his ear yet again, "Guys, I'm picking something up, it sounds like someone is approaching me," he took out a kunai and dug it into the trunk of the tree he hung from. It was an old trick that The Third taught him, a way of amplifying vibration by using a single kunai and applying some chakra. His hand clutched the kunai tightly, feeling it budge with movement once and then once more a couple of seconds later. "By the feel of it, this guy is not moving very fast, over."

"Good work Naruto, see if you can get a visual, we'll stay on standby, over." Naruto cut the communication. See, this was one of those times where he needed to be serious. He was still hanging upside down, however that did not hinder his vision, he could still see just as well as he could right side up.

His eyes went to work, peering through the darkness. From what he could feel this potential enemy was directly in front of him, considering his elevation the perpetrator was probably lower than he was but in front of him nonetheless.

A few seconds later Naruto espied a white clump of hair through darkness, his eyes widened. "No way, that bastard, I knew that there was something odd about that man." Naruto clenched his teeth, he knew that the man could not see him, however he could clearly see the man. He was coming in slow so Naruto would have a couple of seconds before he had to act. And what was that that he was holding in his hands?

He tapped his radio. "Everyone, converge on position, this person is one of ours, over."

"He's from Konoha, who is it, over?" Saito asked.

"Mizuki." Naruto replied in a low whisper, aware that Mizuki was getting closer. "He's holding, something in his hands... a scroll... wait that's the scroll of sealing." Naruto paused, "I don't know what he's doing with that scroll however I'm going to find out." Naruto then released a bit of the tension in his legs. He would have to time this correctly, no room for mistakes here. He waited for Mizuki to get a bit closer and then released all the tension in his legs, allowing his body to smoothly slide off the bark.

The radio crackled in his ear. "Naruto... wait don't approach him, follow him, if he gets to close to Hi no Kuni's border then approach him." Naruto sighed. Well he could have said something earlier.

"Too late for that." He whispered, his body plummeted like an eagle about to catch its prey.

With his eyes tracking the traveling form of Mizuki, Naruto was intrepid, "I'm moving in to intercept." Mizuki would have no clue of what hit him, Naruto's plan was simple, intercept, immobilize, retrieve, and interrogate. As of now, step one.

Naruto held his palms out, the wind whipped his face... if he timed this one correctly then he should land right on top of Mizuki. Mizuki drew closer, where Naruto was almost directly above him, ready for the inevitable pounce that would follow.

Only when his body was a few feet away from him, Mizuki noticed someone coming from above but it was much to late to react, he was still airborne.

As expected, Naruto's body collided with Mizuki. With a firm grasp on his shoulders, Naruto drove the both of the down toward the ground. He mentally chuckled at his _teacher's_ futile attempts to break free, he laughed aloud when Mizuki stopped struggling and simply settled for yelling at the top of his lungs. Phase one, intercept, complete.

Now it was time for phase two, immobilize. He dug his knee into Mizuki's back, feeling his body budge every time they hit a branch, the snap of wood was then soon followed by a harsh thud as they hit the ground.

Mizuki groaned, he felt the pressure on his back leave him. His entire chest felt like it had just caved in. Quietly he lay there, not caring for the little snippets of grass in his mouth, all he cared for was the pain, oh the pain. He had broken... something, everything? He pushed himself up with his hands, and inspected the scroll underneath his body; at least the scroll was still intact. This would have been a lot easier if he had just tricked some student into doing for him, but almost everyone past the exam and those who didn't pass were completely useless.

"Twuah," the particles of grass and dirt left his mouth in a mass of red fluid. Well that was great, now he was bleeding, if anyone was onto him, then he probably could be followed by an Inuzuka and their pesky ninja mutts. Hopelessly confused Mizuki sat upright.

"Where are you!" He spat into the air, several minuscule strands of hair covered most of his eyes, giving him an almost feral visage. He didn't know who this fucker was, but he must have been strong, for he did not feel any other presence until he was tackled to the ground. Mizuki asked again, "Where are you!"

A chilled breeze brushed past him, a premonition warning him of what was to come. And although Mizuki could not portend the future, he knew that whoever it was that stopped him, the bastard, would show himself.

"I'm here," Said a voice from behind him, it sent chills down his badly damaged spine. He ignored all pulses of pain and was on his feet, he turned, his hand grasping one of the two fuma shuriken latched to his back.

There was nobody there. "Mizuki, you only brought two Fuma shuriken, my my, that won't be enough." Mizuki tightened his grip on the steel behind him.

"W-who are you?" Slowly he began back away, until his back hit the trunk of a tree. Nobody would sneak up on him from here.

"You want to know who I am?" Mizuki grimaced, this time the voice was coming from...above. He looked up and all he saw was the dispersing dust of someone moving away, this person was fast. "Well then come take a look." This time the voice sounded like it was in front of him and it was close, very close.

He glanced down, a pair of vibrant blue eyes bore into his eyes. He gasped, before he could say anything his entire body thrust backward and his head smacked against the unmoving tree trunk. His vision went fuzzy.

In front of him a mass of yellow wavered before his eyes, this person was a blond and had blue eyes. For some reason he found it hard to breath, as his vision returned to him could only begin to discern who it was pinning him to this tree.

His eyes widened, the boy's hand clutched his throat tightly. "N-naruto... ?"

The boy did not answer, he only slammed his head back against the tree, causing his vision to waver yet again. "What are you doing here?" Naruto asked, his teeth clenched, he was obviously angry.

Who the hell was he talking to, he may have taken him by surprise but Naruto was still a mere Genin, there was no way he could stand up to Chunin like himself. But as Naruto picked him up and tossed him several feet away, Mizuki was beginning to think otherwise. "You should not have done that, Naruto!" Mizuki wailed as he slipped off one shuriken and hurled it at Naruto.

He watched the blade as it sailed through the air, heading directly for the young Uzumaki's face; his eyes widened when the shuriken cut right through thin air, embedding itself into a tree trunk.

Mizuki's arm was still extended, still remembering the feel of the over-sized shuriken leaving his fingertips, his breath was harsh and scratchy.

Truth be told, Mizuki had never had a limb broken before, that would end soon. There was a whisper of wind and Naruto was next to Mizuki, his hand already latched onto the Chunin's wrist. Bringing forth his left elbow, Naruto bashed Mizuki's arm, breaking it at the joint. The man screamed in pain.

"Fuck you!" He hissed. The world went spinning and Mizuki found himself on his back, how he managed to hold on to the scroll, he didn't know. Naruto slowly walked into his view, moving into his ken like a ghost.

Phase two, immobilize, complete. Naruto's eyes, flashed down to the scroll that Mizuki still held in an airtight embrace.

"Fuck you... wh-what are you?" He said.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto." he responded before giving him a good punch to the face. "Now, what are you doing with that scroll?" He grabbed him by the neck, "Who are you working for because I'm damn sure that it's not Konoha!"

Mizuki coughed, a smile on his face. "I'm not telling you anything... y-you demon!"

"Demon?"

"O-oh you don't know...hahaha... I guess the Hokage hasn't told you yet. Yes, you're a demon, do you remember the nine-tailed fox that attacked the village twelve years ago?" Naruto nodded. "And do you notice how people always glare at you?"

Naruto nodded once more. Mizuki's smile grew intense. "Well the reason they do that is because.... the Nine-tailed fox is inside of you!" Wait for it, wait for it, wait for the surprise...wait where is it? No gasp, no yell, the kid's eyes didn't even move; Naruto simply sat there... then a smile crept on his face.

"What, was I supposed to be surprised, you really expected me to be gripped by some unknown form of consternation? You really thought that I would feel dread, thought that I would suddenly be stricken into a fear-induced paralysis? Well let me tell you something... _sensei_, what else is new? I've know about the Kyuubi for almost six years now, there is no way that I would be surprised at anything you tell me!" He punched Mizuki again and then grabbed the scroll, tossing it aside. He still wasn't finished.

Phase three, retrieve, complete.

"Now tell me, who... are.... you working... for?" Mizuki was silent, daring not to say a word, the complete denial of his ephemeral victory had placed him into a state of shock. How long did he say he had known, who was this kid? The Naruto that Mizuki knew back in the academy was just some orphan boy with average skills who was completely nescient about the entire existence of the Kyuubi no kitsune. Apparently he was wrong and Naruto was much more than that.

Naruto growled; he slipped out a kunai and jammed it into Mizuki's shoulder, bringing the man out of his shock. "Talk, or else I'll make you go through the most excruciating experience of your life!"

"H-how do you know that I'm even working for someone?" Now Naruto was beginning to get really annoyed. That whole anger thing before was just to scare the man, you know the old good cop bad cop routine.

"Don't play dumb with me _sensei_, I know that a worthless Chunin like you could not have gotten into the vault by yourself, you had an accomplice, who is he?"

"Mizuki!" Naruto's head clicked when he heard someone's voice in the distance. No way, there was no possible way the he was involved in this. With disbelief Naruto's eyes locked onto the scarred face of Umino Iruka.

"Iruka?"

"Naruto...you caught him, I've been trying to catch up with him for miles." He sounded tired, like he had been running for a while, "You can let me take over now Anbu are on their way."

Naruto eyed the man carefully. "I know," he said standing up, "my team is coming." He turned his back to the Iruka, casting an inspecting eye over Mizuki's tattered body. There was a glint in the white-haired Nin's eyes.

Mizuki, being aware of who was standing behind Naruto, smiled on the inside. He watched carefully as _Iruka_ slowly and silently pulled out a kunai, raising it above Naruto's head. Well the boy did say he wanted to know who his accomplice was.

Quickly Iruka brought the blade down, and right before the tip made any contact with skin it stopped. Iruka stood there frozen, like a block of ice. "What, did you think that I didn't notice you?" Naruto asked Iruka, right before the man toppled over. "Tch, there's no way that you're the Iruka, the Iruka I know wouldn't have stayed so calm when he saw this."

Naruto crouched down, giving Iruka a quick look up and down. As if he was staring at a reflection in water, Iruka's face shimmered, revealing the face of a brown-haired shinobi. Something caught Naruto's eyes, his headband had the symbol for Otogakure carved into it. Slowly, Naruto brought his gaze back to Mizuki.

"Your accomplice I presume?"

"H-how did you?"

"I have my ways." Naruto responded. "So, the sound village huh? No wonder you were heading up north, hm tell me, were trying to make trade with someone?"

Mizuki said nothing. That was fine with Naruto, he could come up with the conclusion on his own. He just had to think...who in Oto could possibly make selling Konoha out worth while? There were only a few candidates. For one, that person had to be powerful, immensely powerful. A couple names came to mind but finally there was one that stuck out the most.

"Orochimaru." Yeah that was it. Naruto could tell by the way Mizuki's eyes lit up upon hearing the name. "Am I right?" Alright the jig was up, excepting defeat Mizuki slowly nodded.

Naruto chuckled and then looked up and smiled, "They're here;" he said it in a sing-song tune as if he was teasing Mizuki. Four Anbu dropped down from above, all landing silently. That was a surprise, he had expected them to do that thing where they randomly appear out of nowhere.

After this he would have to make sure to ask Saito to teach him the secrets of spontaneous materialization that seemingly all Anbu possessed a mastery of.

"Naruto I'll take it from here," said the Anbu in the tiger mask. From Mizuki's perspective, the tiger was the leader and somehow, Naruto was part of this team.

"Hai," Naruto said before taking a step back. All five of them loomed over his damaged body, something bad was about happen.

Naruto, jauntily jammed his hands in his pockets and looked away.

Phase four, interrogation, commencing.

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Shino closed his eyes, moving a bit in the framed bed. As comfortable as they looked, hospital beds could be a real pain to lay on, especially on the lumbar region. His finger barely curled outwards as he rest his hand on his chest. He felt a small tickle on the backside of his hand, he knew what that meant.

One of his kikai bugs, one of the smaller ones, had crawled out onto the tip of his finger. It sat there, apparently staring into the endless dark void of his black glasses. He had not really said anything about it but he always thought that his kikai were too small.

Perhaps he would cross breed, hopefully it would result in a larger insects. The small insect then buzzed, bombinating madly like it was irritated about something. A few seconds later Shino nodded.

"Oh you're cold." He said glancing at the open window. He wasn't cold but apparently the colonies inside him were; it was actually times like this that made him feel gravid, like he was pregnant or something, caring for these bugs was caring for an unborn child.

He made his way over to the window, keeping his hands placed over it and ready to close it. A nice breeze hit him followed by an infuriated buzz coming from within his jacket. He slid the glass window shut and locked it, now all he had to do was wait for the nurse to come and release him.

_Click _

Shino quickly turned his head, behind his glasses his eyes widened, but only a little bit.

When a short yellow-haired nurse walked in, Shino's eyes lowered. "Oh Shino-kun I can see that you're feeling much better."

Shino nodded, adjusting his glasses. "Yes, my adversity has substantially lessened in comparison to yesterday, I'm feeling much better." The nurse didn't answer; he contemplated on whether or not she even understood him. But when she nodded and smiled, he cast the subject off. Most likely she had no clue what he had just said.

Blonds, sometimes they could be so... unaware of the world around them, although Naruto seemed to be very prescient, given his hair color that is.

The nurse took a glance down at her clipboard and slipped out a pen from within her pocket which coincidentally just so happened to be placed on her ample chest, not that he looked at it or anything.

"Well, Shino-kun, it says here that you have permission to leave, I just thought that I'd come up and tell you." She said, giving him a smile.

"Thank you." He said simply. The nurse gave him a curt bow and slipped back out through the door. He turned back to the window. He hadn't noticed it but subconsciously his hand had made its way to the side of his head, the exact spot where Naruto's foot smashed into.

Although that had been one hell of a kick, Shino couldn't help but think that Naruto was holding back... after all the boy was part of the Anbu Black Ops. At first Shino did not believe, he was gripped by something, denial, skepticism? All he remembered was waking up to the sound of two voices speaking: Naruto's and Kurenai's.

When he heard them speaking he didn't move at all, he did not want them to know that he was awake. It was just his nature to do things that way, to be aloof and undetectable at almost all times, the way of an Aburame. Fortunately the stoic Aburame's temperance payed off and he obtained some surprising information.

Naruto's voice was a clear as a bell. Shino heard everything, the small black scroll, the Anbu only map of Konoha, and last but not least he heard Naruto mention his captain. He could tell that Naruto was hiding something and his suspicions were confirmed the night before. Technically, he should be thanking Naruto, if Naruto had not given him that shot to the head Shino probably would have had to expend more energy into divulging what the boy's secret was. So in a way, it was Naruto who accidentally helped him; he was Shino's unwitting accomplice that helped him uncover the mystery of Uzumaki Naruto.

However, there was still one more part of that mystery that Shino still hadn't figured out yet and that was how Naruto became so strong. The mystery was still on; and after he left the hospital he would have to approach Naruto and speak with him about that. Hinata would have to know as well, most likely she was necient on the subject.

It was still morning, from what he heard Naruto was only meeting his team, he should have been home by now, hopefully. He needed to find Naruto and quickly.

Shino glanced at the door, that was the way out. Right now all he needed to do was check out and leave the hospital, yeah that was the right way out. Then he glanced toward the window, but this was the faster way out.

In a flash, Shino's hands went into motion, unlocking the window and sliding the glass up. His body squeezed through, much like a mouse hurrying through its hole and Shino was in the air, well more like falling through the air.

The wind blew his dark hair up and he was forced to secure his glasses so that they didn't fly up off his face. It was only a three story drop, nothing hard for a ninja, but just so he wasn't noticed by the people below, he pressed his hand against the wall, then his leg, as of now Shino was sliding down the side of the hospital.

Releasing a suppressed grunt Shino pushed off the wall, he was airborne and heading for the rooftop of a small building. He pulled his legs in, and as he hit the stone roof, tucked himself into a roll before rising to his feet. He looked down at the villagers below, none of them seemed to notice, good, at least he could still go places without being seen.

It was a good thing that this rooftop wasn't slanted or else that little roll just now would have left him belly up on the street below.

Now there was no time to waste, he needed to find Naruto, he needed to know more about his teammate and temporarily sate his insatiable curiosity . Extending his arms, Shino released a small mass of insects, the strain kikai that could actually fly. With a wave of his hand he dispersed his loyal kikai, the small cloud of insects becoming nothing but air before his eyes.

With that he turned and bounded away, his next stop being Naruto's apartment.

xxxxXXXXXXXXxxxxxx

Sarutobi Hiruzen had never thought that he'd ever be so tired that his face felt as if it was glued to his desk. As of now, his right cheek had lost all feeling, numb that was the word, he cheek was numb.

The previous mountain of paperwork that had kept him up throughout the night had died down to a small hill. He let out a tired yawn, another all-nighter, that was the life of a Kage.

Paperwork, paperwork, and what do you know... more paperwork!

It was morning and the new light of the sun flooded in through window's behind him, washing a pleasant warmth on the back of his neck. He smiled, grateful for the sun's gift, then his eyelid cracked open.

Someone else was here, and he knew exactly who it was as well, his presence had become all too familiar for Sarutobi not to know who it was. With his head still on the desk, The Third asked cleared his throat. "Naruto-kun is that you?" He knew that it was but he just wanted to hear his pupil's response.

"Sleeping on the job Ojiisan, you know that's not good for your image." Naruto's voice chimed in front of his desk. A simple 'yes, it's me' would have sufficed but he really couldn't expect anything else from Naruto, besides, strangely, that response brought a smile to the old man's face.

"I know, I know," Sarutobi said, hunching himself onto his elbows, he then raised an eyebrow at Naruto's expression. "What is it?" Naruto pointed a finger at him, "What, me?"

He nodded, a smile creeping on his face. "Your face, looks like you had a nice power nap there." Naruto said chuckling. Confused the Hokage brought one of his slender fingers to the right side of his cheek. He ran his hand over his skin, pausing when he felt the dry crust of aged saliva.

Nasty.

Sarutobi chuckled once more, wiping away the spit on his cheek. "So how was your first mission as an Anbu?" Sarutobi asked, leaning in. He was vastly interested in his student and grandson's first experience.

"I encountered Mizuki." Naruto said without preamble. That caused the Hokage's eyebrow to raise a fraction of an inch. That traitor Mizuki, last night he had made off with the scroll of sealing. Fortunately he was caught and brought back to Ibiki. When he heard that it was Naruto who caught him, it pleased him greatly to know that his subordinate could be so proficient in the actual field, but he couldn't be certain that Naruto would perform so well in the future, after all Mizuki was only a Chunin. Naruto would be going up against much stronger opponents in the future, he would just have to wait until then to see how the boy performed.

"I'm aware of that Naruto, your tone tells me that there is something else, is there?"

Naruto nodded. "Yes, he had an accomplice from Otogakure." Sarutobi nodded.

"I am aware." That old habit resurfaced and Sarutobi found himself tapping away at his desk. "Is there anything else?"

"In fact there is, Mizuki had been trying to steal the scroll to deliver it to someone, and I'm pretty sure that I know who the person is."

Sarutobi crossed his fingers, placing them over the bridge of his nose, much like he had done with Anko. Now he was serious. Naruto's mind may have been young but it was definitely sharp, as a result Sarutobi never took the boy lightly whenever he had presented a theory to him.

"Who?"

"The one person who could actually benefit him in Oto," Naruto stuck a finger in the air and let his words hang in the air for a bit. He wanted to draw out a reaction. "Orochimaru, The Snake Sannin and ex shinobi of Konoha."

Unfortunately there was no reaction, just the steel expression on the Hokage's face. He never really could figure out how the old man could keep a straight face after hearing the most disturbing of things.

Naruto went on. "When I asked Mizuki who he was working for he did not say a word, however, as soon as I mentioned Orochimaru's name, Mizuki's reaction was... more than immediate to say the least."

Sarutobi stayed silent for a while letting the words sink in, he glanced down and saw his reflection in the polished wood of his desk. Orochimaru, his old student, the same student who betrayed Konoha and defected to a life that was... less desired. His eyes then went back to the boy in front of him. Naruto, his current and most promising student, the boy he cared for the most out of everyone in the village.

Hopefully he wouldn't follow in that snake bastard's footsteps, it was a wonder that Naruto hadn't become tainted considering how he was treated by the villagers.

"Naruto... are you sure?"

"As sure as I think I can be." He responded.

"And exactly what is that supposed to mean?"

Naruto shrugged, his expression fading to nonchalance. "My team and I interrogated Mizuki, but unfortunately we couldn't get anything else out of him, we could not figure out his motives. We do know however that there are more people, according to Mizuki, there is one other person who is working for Orochimaru and that person is somewhere here in the village."

"Did you discover anything specific about him, like gender, age, height, hair color?" Naruto shook his head.

"Sorry Ojiisan, apparently Mizuki doesn't even know... or at least that's what he got us to believe, he said that all he knew was that there was someone else hiding in Konoha. Any specific details about that person are out of reach...for the moment."

"Well that moment should be over soon, I'm sure that Ibiki has already done his job and we have our information." As if on cue there was a knock at the door. Sarutobi sighed. "Yes, who is it?"

"Ibiki, Hokage-sama. I wish to speak to you about Mizuki and his betrayal, I have some information that I think that you might like."

The old man nodded, bringing forth his hand and motioned for Ibiki to come in. Directly afterward the door swung open, revealing an aged man in a black trench coat, the bandanna on his head matched the color of his coat.

With wide eyes Naruto blinked rapidly, moving his gaze from the Hokage back to Ibiki and then back to the Hokage.

How the hell did he just do that? Was that like some weird mystical ability that you acquired once you reached the rank of Kage. He brought his hand up in a very academy student-like way, his mouth was open.

"How did you-," he was cut off by Sarutobi's hand, yet another mystical power of the Hokage, the power to silence people without even uttering a single word, useful but mysterious.

"Save it for another time Naruto-kun." His gaze turned to Morino Ibiki, the best in the interrogation business, truly there was no other like him. If not for his attachment and importance to the Konoha Interrogations department, Sarutobi would have requested for him to train the two Fuminas instead of Anko, however he strongly doubted that Ibiki would have even complied to such a request.

"What is it Ibiki?" Now it would be time to test that theory of Naruto's to see if it was actually the truth and not just a theory. The ragged man cleared his throat taking a look at Naruto. He seemed to be fine with Naruto hearing this, maybe he had heard of the boys power, maybe he knew all along.

"Mizuki, I know who Mizuki was trying to get the scroll over to, it was-"

"Orochimaru?" Sarutobi said, cutting him off. A scruffy eyebrow bent over into an arch as Ibiki raised his eyebrow.

"How did you know Hokage-sama, that information was just now uncovered a few minutes ago. How could you have possibly known?" He stepped into the office, closing the door behind him. "Excuse, Uzumaki, I would like to speak with the Hokage in private."

Crinkles formed on the old man's forehead; a signal went off in Naruto's head, and he turned to Sarutobi frown. The boy waved his hand, "That's alright, I was just leaving. I've got somewhere else to be." Naruto said giving Ibiki a curt bow. "I'll talk to you later Ojiisan." He left the room, throwing up his hand lazily.

XXXXxxxxxxxxxxxXXXX

"Wow, you did a pretty good job, Touha-san!" Naruto said staring at his reflection in the gleaming mirror placed at the back room of the Gekkani Clothing shop. He twisted his body by the waist, getting about as good a look at his back as he possibly could.

"Oh please, call me Gekkani!" The old tailor replied cheerfully. He stood behind Naruto, a smile on his face, his hands placed behind his back.

The pose of a wise man; Naruto knew because he had seen the Hokage in that same pose so many times before. Speaking of the Hokage, damn that Ibiki, barging in during their conversation. He should have killed him right there on the spot. It still irked Naruto that he did not know what they were planning for Mizuki, he wanted a chance to talk to the traitor and he might have gotten it too.

If Ibiki the Interrogator hadn't knocked on the door.

"So, Naruto, you like it right. I hope it matches what you had imagined it to be."

Naruto nodded, "Hell yeah it does!" Naruto replied still checking himself out. "So how much will this cost me? It'll probably be a fortune judging by the feel of this material. By the way what is this thing made of?"

In the reflection of the mirror Naruto could see that Gekkani's face had taken on a brilliant smile.

"It's a very high quality fabric, a hybrid material. A delicate threading of strong para-aramid synthetic fibers and gossamer."

"Gossamer? Spider silk?"

"Yes, believe you me, spider silk is stronger than it looks, its tensile strength alone is superior to that of normal grade steel." Naruto raised and eyebrow to that, as if he didn't already know that.

"What else?" Naruto asked. If what Gekkani is saying was true then this material shouldn't have felt this comfortable, even with the silk it should have felt like it was chocking the life out of him, so then why did it feel so... nice.

"Along with that, this fabric has been interwoven with a layer of nylon, thrice to be exact." Woven three times, impressive, this must have taken forever to make.

"I'm impressed." Naruto said concisely.

"I knew you would be." Gekkani replied.

"So any word on the price."

Silence, the buzz of a dying light bulb created a suspenseful air.

"It's free."

"What? Stop joking around, whatever the price is I can pay," it was true, he was stacked, the Hokage made sure of that, " I can't just take something like this from you without giving you anything!"

The smile on Gekkani's face was still there. "Don't worry, consider it as a gift from me to you. Trust me, I'm not losing anything in doing this so you need not worry about my business... just be sure to mention my name to your Anbu buddies, okay?" So that was his game, still it was a game that Naruto did not mind playing for Gekkani was quickly becoming one of his more... likable associates in the village.

"Sure no problem, I can do that," Naruto said, quickly turning away from the mirror. Gekkani followed him to the cashier's desk, where Yoru gave Naruto a salty glance, however Naruto simply ignored the man and glided past him toward the door.

"Hey aren't you gonna pay for-." he was silenced when Gekkani placed a hand on the burly man's shoulder and shook his head. Yoru simply growled at that, apparently he was VERY aware of how much that outfit costs, considering that he was the one who had to go out and find the material for it.

Throwing his hand in the air, much like he had done in the Hokage's office, Naruto stepped out of the clothing shop. His snug new attire hugging his body tightly, bliss... oh wait no bliss, at least not yet, he still needed to go to one more stop.

The Hospital.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Sanae woke up, forcefully, her shoulders felt weird, like they had been fondled with over and over again. And not the good kind of fondling, no that was called a massage, this was more like rough groping. Forcing the images of massages and shoulder abuse out of her mind she opened her eyes.

And she gasped, was she seeing things or was she just looking at a mirror? It seemed to her that an exact likeness of her was staring right into her face. _'Am I looking at me?' _

No, wait that was her mother and those were her mother's eyes. Sanae had always believed that she looked a little bit _too_ much like her mom, she believed that she got about everything from her mother while Konoe took a bit more from their father. That was probably the reason why Konoe was the one whose hair had the natural red tint, she got it from their red-head of a father.

She blinked a couple of times, glancing away from her mom. "Alright Mom, I'm awake now can you stop that." She came to find out the the weird feeling in her shoulders was due to her mother...who had been trying to wake up... for what reason, she didn't know. In front of her eyes, she could see her sister laying in the clean hospital bed, her expression peaceful and serene, Sanae smiled on the inside. She bet that hospital bed felt really nice to lay on.

Oh, if only she knew.

Next to her in a chair was their father. The moment came up and Sanae glanced at Konoe's dark auburn hair and then to her father's shoulder length bright red hair. Yeah, Konoe definitely got it from their dad.

Her mother then sat back in the whiter than white hospital chair, which was parallel to hers. "Sorry." He mother spurted out, "You hadn't moved an inch for the past hour, so I got kind of worried.

Not even taking her glance to her mother Sanae just released an odd drone from within her throat that-- in her mind-- meant "It's Ok." Had she been that tired that her body, even while asleep, was still too tired to move?

"Sanae," Her father's voice cut through the air, "your sensei... what is her name again?" He sounded angry, like he wanted to hit something... or someone.

"M-Mitarashi Anko." her words came out a low mutter. Her father then groaned, slapping his head with his hand making a loud "smack"! Apparently he knew of the reputation that followed Anko in the village.

"I want to speak with her," he said simply.

"Wha-... um you want to speak with her?" Her acting was horrible, which was stupid, why would she even try to play dumb with her father, Fumina Youhei, of all people? He was probably the last person she wanted to play dumb with, he could spot a lie from a mile away.

"Yes, and I know that you know exactly why I wish to speak to her." He said. That was what she was afraid of. She knew how protective her father could get when it came to her and her sister, she just hoped that Anko-sensei would be ready for it.

"I do, but," he voice cracked with a loud rasp, "I'm sure that it wasn't on purpose."

"I don't care."

"Daddy, please."

"Honey, don't get so worked up, it was an honest mistake, an accident during training." Thank Kami for mothers. Despite being saved by the maternal bell, her father continued still.

"I don't care if it was an accident, if anything else were to happen would you just register that off as an accident, a lot of accidents occur on the field however that doesn't matter because in the end someone gets hurt. And that someone just so happens to be our daughter."

"Just drop it" she said.

"I won't" Her mother then gave her father a certain look, one of those looks that said "drop it or else it's the couch".

"Fine, I'll drop it but I still want to speak with Anko, just to set some things straight, okay?"

"Ok," Her mother replied.

There was a ruffling of clothing followed by a soft groan, Sanae widened her eyes. "Mom, Dad, ... I think Konoe's waking up." All heads shifted toward the hospital bed, all eyes gazing down upon the now shifting form of Konoe. She crinkled her nose as if she wanted to sneeze but the crinkles disappeared and she relaxed.

"Konoe?"

Her sister's eyes opened, blinking rapidly, swaying from left to right. Konoe sat upright and stretched her arms. "What are you guys doing here... she paused, "wait what am I doing here? Last thing that I remember was," she angled her chin up into a thinking pose, "getting slammed into that tree."

Sanae cringed, damn, why did Konoe have to go and open her big mouth. "Slammed into a tree! What, Sanae why is it that you did not tell me." He turned his dagger glare onto his daughter, piercing right through her.

"I-I didn't want you to worry to much about us."

Her mother shook her head, "Oh Sanae."

She knew that not telling her father about how Konoe had gotten hurt was a bad idea, but still she did not. Well now all she had to do was face her father's wrath, oh wait, she had almost forgotten her father did not know where they had there little training session. If he were to ever find out that they in the forest of death all hell would break loose, not only on Anko but on her as well.

It would be better to keep that one to herself, hopefully Konoe didn't open her mouth again.

"Sanae why di-" Her father's voice was cut off by a sudden tap at the door. Now all heads turned toward the door.

"Come in," her mother said.

The door knob turned, slowly, too slowly, so slow that it was in fact painful for Sanae to watch it rotate. As the burnished brass turned clockwise, Sanae repeated the same four words in her head.

_'Please don't be Anko!' _The tension in her legs built as she pressed on her thighs, digging her palms into them.

'_Click' _

The hinges of the door creaked and the door swung open. She closed her eyes shut. _"Don't be Anko, go away, don't step in!" _

"Oh Naruto-kun, how are you?"

Naruto? Oh Naruto, what a relief. Never had Sanae been so happy to hear her mother call out Naruto's name.

She opened her eyes, and couldn't stop them from widening.

Oh....Naruto....

Well she had to give him one thing, he knew how to make the color orange look stylish. Standing in the door way was Naruto; he wasn't in the stuffy jumpsuit anymore, neither was he going simple and wearing just a t-shirt. His new attire, in Sanae's perspective, fit him much better.

He wore a tight black and dark orange top, the black fabric on his sides seemed to cling to his body seemed to cling to his body while the orange in front was seemingly attached to him. Every muscle was defined clearly, jutting forward an a couple inches or so out of the fabric. Black, covered his arms, stopping a little bit past his elbow, from the elbow to the wrist Sanae could see the diamond pattern of a fine mesh undershirt. He wore black pants made of the same beautiful material that the top was made of, they were not as tight as the top. They seemed to be more loosely fitted but they still hugged his legs nonetheless.

Drooling, who's drooling, she wasn't... anymore.

Like this Naruto actually looked a little bit more like... an Anbu member, at least one with style. The design of his outfit looked very similar to the grey and black outfits that were standard issue to all Anbu, the only difference was that Naruto's outfit looked cooler and was obviously higher quality.

"Whoa, looking sharp Naruto, going somewhere?" Her father's tone once harsh tone had died down, now calmer, softer. He seemed to get that way whenever Naruto was around, as soon as that blond bush of air was within eye shot her father's face instantly brightened.

"Nowhere but here." Naruto replied almost instantly, pointing both fingers at her father who returned it with a double point of his own.

_'Oh gag me,' _Sanae thought to herself. Her father Naruto's sense of camaraderie had been acceptable at first but now or days, it actually annoyed her more. It was like her father suddenly became a teenager again when Naruto came around, funny but annoying all together. Sanae knew why he acted this way though, it was simple.

He was going through a mid-life crisis, given that it was at age thirty-two. For a while the two traded words, talking about things that Naruto had dubbed an "inside" thing. She hated it when they spoke about "inside" things

Naruto's baby blues flicked toward Konoe, who hadn't looked away yet. "Man, first day and you're already in the hospital?" He said, shooting a smile her way, he bowed to their mother gave him a smile.

Her father snapped back to reality, switching from teenager to senior citizen, or that's what he thought of himself when really he wasn't all that old.

"Yes, their sensei, if I can even call her that, did that to her."

"Yeah I heard what happened." Naruto replied.

Naruto raised an eyebrow when the red haired man suddenly inhaled sharply, giving Sanae a quick glare. Did he just say something that he wasn't supposed to?

_'Stupid Naruto.' _

"Anyway, Konoe, how are you feeling?" Naruto said.

"Fine, my back is starting to feel better now, yesterday the nurse told me that with some rest I should be out by this afternoon." Well it was only ten o' clock, she still had a couple more hours of sitting in that deathtrap called a hospital bed.

"Well that's good to hear, I just thought I'd drop by to see how you're doing."

Sanae eyed him carefully, _'Alright Naruto, enough with the friendly banter, no more preamble, aren't you going to tell Konoe about how you rescued me and that you're an Anbu member?" _Why was he wasting time? Had he forgotten, hardly, that definitely wasn't it.

She then paused, glancing around the room, spotting the two anomalies in the equation. Her parents! Naruto said he would tell her and Konoe everything, did that mean that he meant he would tell them and only them? Was he hesitating to speak... because of her parents?

"You know, it's kind of weird you know, how both our teams have one member in the hospital." Naruto said.

Konoe tipped her head to the side as did her father. "Oh, that's right you don't know. One of my teammates, Aburame Shino, got hurt yesterday while he and I were sparring. I kind of hit him on the head a bit too hard."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I was actually on my way to go visit him right now, but I took a detour to see Konoe first."

Their mother smiled, "Well that was nice of you Naruto-kun, but I'd hate to keep you away from you teammate, so you should go see him."

Naruto nodded a smile on his face and gave the Fumina family a quick bow before walking toward the door.

Sanae eyed him with undisturbed concentration. What was he doing, why was he walking away? In her mind she begged him not to walk out the door, yelling out numerous "don't go's" and "wait's". She wanted him to stay, she wanted him to tell her more, to tell everyone more. Naruto needed to explain himself, but apparently he felt that he did not at that very moment. Konoe needed to know as well, she didn't even now the importance of what was going on around her, how one of her best friends was stronger than what she could even begin to imagine.

Hopefully he would explain afterward but knowing Naruto, he would find away to avoid them, much like he had done in the past.

_'Don't go, stay here and tell me everything!' _Her words were unheard, trapped within the confines of her mind where they were audible to no other person but herself.

And like that Naruto was gone, his backside disappearing from the doorway.

Stupid, why did he do that?

Outside Naruto sighed, that was wrong, very wrong and he knew it. He didn't want to tell them, well, he did want them to know, but he just didn't want to tell them. He wanted them to see his power actually, he wanted them to experience exactly who he was and until then he would refrain from speaking to them about anything concerning his hidden skill.

His sandal squeaked like a mouse as he turned the corner onto the hall that held Shino's room.

"Here it is." Exactly where he had been yesterday, room 206.

Knock knock. Well that was odd, no response? _'Well it is Shino after all, maybe he's asleep. I'll just check.' _His hand grasped the brass handle, the same cold icy sensation flooded through his hand like it had when he grasped the door knob to Konoe's room.

He opened it, slowly, and poked his head through the doorway. His eyes widened.

"He's gone, how is it that possible the nurse said that he hadn't checked out yet and he has no other tests scheduled for today so..." Naruto's voice trailed off as his eyes locked onto the open window, a portion of the ultra-white curtains was hanging out of the window, fluttering in the wind. The room was dimly lit.

That just screamed suspicious. Making his way over to the window sill Naruto noticed something about the room, nothing was out of place as if it hadn't been touched. On the very edge of the sill, Naruto could see a dark scuff, there was something odd about it, the scuff had a pattern to it.

That's because it wasn't a scuff at all, it was a footprint. Open window, footprint left behind, room perfectly intact, definitely suspicious. Bringing his head forth Naruto popped his head out the window, he glanced down.

"So Shino used the window, huh," his gaze stopped when it met the flat gray stone roof of a small building below. Most likely where his teammate landed. That posed one question, why _did_ Shino used the window? It would have been so much easier to just checkout of the hospital and leave through the front door.

Why leave through the window, that kept people thinking that you were still in the hospital. Then his mind brought back a memory, a memory of what Mizuki said, that there was one other Oto agent still hidden in Konoha.

Bing! Conclusion!

Was that person Shino? Leaving through the window to stay undetected and not checking out of the hospital, keeping people thinking that you're still there. That sounded like something a spy from another village would do, especially if that person was trying to get somewhere within the village without being noticed. But there was no way, no way in hell that Shino was the culprit.

Another question comes up, maybe this person isn't the real Shino, for all he knew the real Shino could be tied up somewhere, gagged and bounded in a closet... or even worse.

Dead.

When did the bastard make the switch, was it while Shino was in the hospital by himself, or was it before that, before he was even assigned to a Genin team. He needed to find "Shino" and he needed to find him quickly, he couldn't be so sure of himself as of now, he needed to confirm that the Shino was the culprit.

But just as Naruto was about to jump out the window and try to find his teammate, he heard a voice, a voice that stopped him.

"Can I help you?"

Shit, why now of all times?

Naruto turned around, slowly. Standing in the door way was a white-haired boy, he looked to be around seventeen. Draped over his body was a white lab coat, a doctor's standard issue attire. The white material hung low, going just past his ankles the lab coat bore a striking resemblance to the curtains behind Naruto.

"Well, what are you doing here?"

"I was looking for my friend," Naruto said not missing a beat, "he was supposed to be in this room, can you tell me if he was moved to a different room or if he was having some tests done right now?"

The boy looked down at the clipboard in his hand, he pulled a pen, tracing the paper with it. "What's his name?" He asked, his hand quickly dashed up adjusting his glasses before dashing back down to the clipboard.

"Aburame, Aburame Shino." Naruto replied.

After a few seconds the boy looked back up, "No, it says here that he was released this morning, your friend is gone."

"But the nurse at the front desk told me that he still hadn't checked out of the hospital yet."

"Well that's odd," the boy muttered, he curled his two fingers twice at Naruto, motioning for Naruto to follow him."Let's check on that shall we."

Naruto nodded, exiting the room, not before making a double take at the window once more.

"By the way, my name's Naruto, Uzumaki Naruto."

".....Kabuto, Yakushi Kabuto, now let's see if we can find out what happened to that friend of yours."

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Shino tapped the back of his knuckles against Naruto's door. This had been his fifth time coming here for the day. There was no answer.

Shino sighed, he was not home. If he was not home, and he was not anywhere else then where was he? Where could Naruto possibly be in the village? Even with his sentry insects scouting a rather large radius, Shino still could not find out where his blond teammate was. The Aburame genius couldn't figure out... for once, where could he possibly have gone to, from the sky it should not have been this hard to spot a head of hair that was a blond as Naruto's. Why his bugs still could find no trace of the boy only aided in annoying.

Once his thought one of his insects found Naruto, much to his displeasure, the winged kikai led Shino not to the blond head of Uzumaki Naruto but to the blond head of Yamanaka Ino. Boy what a bother that was.

Who knew how hard it would be trying to track an Anbu member. Now how did that sound coming from a Genin?

Naruto wasn't home, it wouldn't hurt to check now would it?

Shino slipped his hand on the doorknob, a black blur flew out of his sleeve and into the keyhole. Now came the hard part.

It was called _breaking and entering_.

Shino kept a stolid visage as the sounds of crunching metal sound at his fingertips. Seconds later the black blur buzzed back up Shino's sleeves and he opened the door with an audible click.

What was he doing, breaking into Naruto's house, it was stupid he should have turned around and left right there. But he didn't he just kept on going, pulled in by the curiosity that no Aburame dared disobey. He wanted to see what type of things that Naruto held in his possession, anything that could have led to his teammate attaining so much power, if it was in the small apartment, then Shino would find it.

Shino moved about, searching through the little shelves and cabins, even the bookcase. Hopefully Naruto would not come home, if he did then Shino knew he wouldn't be able to hide.

Right now he was treading in dangerous waters, for now there weren't any sharks, but he didn't know how long that would last.

He said not a word, as he rummaged through Naruto's personal belongings. This place looked fairly normal, Shino hadn't seen anything worth his time yet, no scrolls, nothing.

He let out sigh, where was everything? Shino moved into another room, Naruto's room.

"These appears to be his sleeping quarters, not very impressive." True, he had expected more.

Well, back to searching.

However, he let out a light gasp when he heard something, something that he really did not want to hear. It was probably the last thing that he wanted to hear.

Someone was knocking at the door, that was bad, why now? He still needed more time, more time to search, more time to investigate.

He hear a voice, female, it sounded muffled but Shino could still hear it. "Naruto...it's me, Kurenai!"

Kurenai of all people was at the door, for what Shino didn't know. "I'm here to tell you to meet the rest of the team at the training ground around noon...huh, the door's open? He cringed, well on the inside anyway.

"Naruto, did you know that you left the door unlocked?" Her voice sounded closer, like it was inside, she... was inside. Well at least no he knew he couldn't get out the way he came in.

Now Shino knew that he had no more time, he needed to get out of there and he needed to get out of there fast. His eyes shot frantically darted around until they finally stopped.

The window... luckily this time it was open, Naruto thank you for your forgetfulness.

Taking one foot forward, he tiptoed toward the window.

The floorboard underneath him creaked , loudly. "Huh, what was that? Naruto are you in there?" Oh come on, could anything else go wrong? When she heard the sound of approaching footsteps his breathing quickened.

Okay, screw that keeping a level head shit, now was not the time to be an Aburame, now was the time to be frantic! Quickly and as quietly as he could, Shino moved toward the window. As soon as his foot hit the window sill the door knob twisted.

Dammit, he still was not out, he needed more time! Shino's legs moved almost at mach speed and with as little sound possible, half of his body was out of the window when the door swung opened. No good, he couldn't make the jump, if he did, Kurenai would still see him and probably try to follow him and he seriously doubted that he could outrun his sensei. He was confident in his skills but not that confident.

"Naruto?" Kurenai said as she stepped inside her pupils room and she instantly grimaced. "What a mess" she said shaking her head. "Well I guess he's not here, I guess I'll just have to keep looking," she said turning around.

She was completely unaware of the boy holding his breath outside, standing on the edge of Naruto's apartment two stories in the air.

When he heard his teachers retracting footsteps, Shino released a relieved sigh.

It was over.

"Hello Shino-kun." His body tensed up as he looked up, to see his sensei, standing right beside him, the only difference was that she was standing sideways, in fact one could say that Kurenai was standing off the building. She was literally clinging to the side of the apartment as if she would a regular street. "Mind telling me what you're doing here?"

Feeling the hot tickle of nervousness hit him, Shino uttered out the only response that he could.

"H-hello Kurenai-sensei."

Yeah... smooth.

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Hinata sat up on her bed, man was she bored. The team was supposed to meet again today after Shino got out of the hospital, around noon. She picked up her clock and scowled, it was only ten forty five!

Hinata groaned, bringing a pillow up to her face and falling back onto the lavender sheets of her bed. For some reason she felt like there was something else going on around her, something big. Something that would be a perfect plot builder for a story and she was being left out of it.

Still she could do nothing about it, all she could do was wait.

Letting out one more groan she said, "I'm so bored!" She literally screamed it into her pillow, so it came out as only a muffle.

One hour and fifteen minutes to go before she was freed from this boredom.

As she frequently heard Shikamaru always say , which she completely agreed with at the moment.... "What a drag."

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Thank you, thank you. I'm finally done with this chapter, sorry for the wait, if any of you thought it was that long of a wait, I hope this makes up for the time missed.

Haha, I bet nobody was expecting to see Kabuto in the chapter... huh, huh did I do good or what?

I hope I did. Okay, so I'm going to be concise and curtail the rest of this author's note. All I have to say is that the next chapter might not come for a while, because I am studying to get my learner's permit so I can finally get behind the wheel of a god forsakened car! Ok and I hope that I get some feedback for this chapter, I think I went a little crazy with this one, despite there not being a lot of action, and I REALLY want to know what you guys think of it. So as of now I'm at 121 reviews, let's see how far the meter raises with this chapter. Oh and by the way, I want to thank everyone who reviewed my third chapter, you guys almost doubled my review count, and for that I'm am ever grateful.

So anyway, until next time

Thanx

Latr

Next chapter: Storm Center

GrIm'S sTePpIn' OuT.


	5. Storm Center

Hey people, how's everything been, I hope we've all had a chance to enjoy ourselves while I was gone, because I know I have. Man there's nothing like relaxing and reading a good... book...-eh wait, what am I saying?

No but seriously people, I have just discovered something, that James Patterson is my all favorite author in the world. I mean I really do love, and I do mean love, his work. Suspense, action, thrills, drama, his works have got everything.

So, going back to the story, I thank everyone who has put some commitment into actually reviewing my story. I had almost gotten to 150 reviews, but sadly the journey was curtailed and the review count stopped at 148 reviews. Man I was a bit irked about that but I let go, so I just wanted to say, I am really thankful of everyone... and you'd better appreciate it... or else. And here's something to think about:

_"For humans, power is privilege whereas intelligence is a right, so never be afraid to use it "~_ My life's motto

So anyway, I'll get on with the story, you guys rock.

Enjoy, it would make me feel better if you did.

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His hand swayed over the black scuff on his window sill and Naruto pulled back, remembering that he wasn't supposed to touch it, it was evidence. The moonlit sky cast a watchful eye over his apartment, the milky glow flowing in through his window. The lights were off. He folded his arms and narrowed his eyes, staring intensely at the black mark that was so suspiciously left at his sill.

The same pattern as before, as in the hospital. It appeared that the same shoe print had been left in his house as well as the hospital room. He quirked an eyebrow, what was this supposed to mean.

A few things came to mind, it could be evidence for one... while on the other hand it could have been bait as well. "Shino", or so he made himself to be perceived as, left the hospital via window, leaving a suspicious shoe print on the window sill in his wake. Now he came to find another shoe print smeared all over his sill as well.

Coincidence, hell no.

Naruto crossed his arms, bringing his head up, taking in the starless night. The chilled air came with opulent silence with every step on his creaky floorboards being the only thing that could be heard along with the occasional flutter of frantic moths flying in and out of his room. "I need to make a call." He said calmly.

This had to be investigated, however, he had to be very picky with who he chose to call, he didn't want something like this to be out in the open. With the off chance that this tar black scuff on his window sill was in fact bait laid out by the second Oto spy for Naruto find, then Naruto had to be more than just picky about who he called, he had to, no, needed to be incisive.

It made perfect sense; to lay out bait for the person who took out your partner and to see if he notices it. He to think for a bit, if he let this get out in the open then surely that second spy, whether he was under the guise of Shino or not, would definitely hear about it as well. In doing that, this spy would know whether or not Naruto or any other person in Konoha knew of his existence in the village, but Naruto would not fall for that. He had to keep this man, or woman, thinking that everyone was completely ignorant of their position as an Oto spy.

Even_ if_ that meant clandestinely investigating off-grid.

Naruto found himself walking, more like dashing, out of his room, turning to his kitchen, where he found the black new colonial style telephone hanging on the wall. He picked it up, pressing the hardened plastic to his ear. His fingers worked like a machine, rapidly pressing buttons as if it were the last thing that mattered. He did not bother to look at what he was dialing though, but it didn't matter, he knew this number all too well.

His finger hit the last button and he pulled back waiting for the dull calling drone that signaled calling someone. It came, ringing steadily, once, twice, a thrice and like that it ended; a small click replacing it, followed by a small intake of air, directly ensuing that was the familiar sound of a man's voice.

"Hello?" He said.

"Hi," Naruto said quickly, he began without the overture, "I need you to come here quickly, there's something that I think you need to see."

There was a moment where the man didn't answer back; in which Naruto absently began tapping his foot. "Naruto?"

"Yes! It's Naruto, now come over, I've got something pertaining to Mizuki's failed defection and it just might help us find out who the second agent is as well."

A rush of air blew through the receiver end of the phone and Naruto jerked his head back, the dull whisper of a sigh amplified by the static. "Well if you put it that way, then tell me, what do I need?"

"I dunno, all I got here is a shoe print, so...-" He was cut off by a scratchy chuckle.

"Alright," the man replied, "I know what to do."

"Good." Was the final word Naruto gave him before he hung up, placing the phone back on its station with a bell-like "ching".

He needed to calm down, and first off, he was hungry. He hadn't been home, since yesterday's mission. During the afternoon he met his team on their training ground, not surprisingly, Shino was there. He was supposed to be after all, however it seemed as if his sensei and teammate where unaware of his illegal departure from the hospital, although Kurenai kept giving Shino odd glances, as if she sensed that something was off about the boy. All the reason more to suspect him.

They sparred for a while, this time on Kurenai fought against him, almost into the night, But by the time the sun had gone done, Kurenai had sent them home, ending their session with a small lecture on being prepared as ninja and giving them their training schedule for the next couple months. Naruto didn't find it bizarre that their schedule involved a LOT of meditation and genjutsu drills. He didn't mind, genjutsu was fun, and besides training with a virtuoso of the art, such as Kurenai herself, could help him come up with new and ingenious ways of ensnaring people in his traps.

After that they went their separate ways and he found him self at his broken in apartment.

... But more importantly, he found himself at his broken in apartment, and he found himself hungry.

Moving past the phone, he reached out, opening one of the redwood cabinets, and pulled out a plastic covered container of instant ramen. It squeaked as he twisted it with his fingers, uttering out the name of his favorite flavor, "Miso pork ramen, yum."

He unwrapped the shiny styrofoam cup vigorously like a child with their first Christmas present; "just add water", the back label said. He followed the instructions faintly, having done a thousand times...or maybe it was more like a million? He had lost count.

In went the cup, right into the microwave, the back label also said "ready in three minutes", but he knew that was a lie, those idiots didn't know what they were talking about. You had to warm it for at least five. Naruto closed the little black door, watching as the small yellow light coruscated into his eyes and cast a pale yellow glow onto his skin and his already yellow hair. In five minutes his stomach would be full and his hunger would be sated, damn that hunger, the beast.

He stood there, watching the styrofoam rotate, glittering, sparkling, he was was getting hungry just looking at the cup.

Two minutes before the digital timer on the microwave reach zero, there was a knock on the door. He flicked his head at the sound, but he didn't take his gaze off the still spinning cup, the tantalizing aroma proving too much for him to pull away. The knock came again, this time louder, Naruto frowned.

"Alright!" he shouted over his shoulder, breaking away from his prized meal, in order to get to the door. He opened it, swinging the door wildly, and raised an eyebrow but smiled while doing so.

"That's all you brought?"

"Yes, this is all that I'll need."

"Well, I then I'll show you to your crime scene, Mr. Fumina."

He laughed, placing a hand on Naruto's shoulder, "Now, Naruto you know I told you to call me Youhei, how would Sanae and Konoe react if you went around acting all formal like that?"

Naruto shrugged at that, probably the same way they would have reacted if he revealed to them everything about himself, shock and petrified.

"Well come on, its in my room," Naruto said leading his friends' father through his apartment and into his room. Youhei, unlike most well known adults in this village actually worked with the Anbu corps. and still found a way to maintain a family, and even more, an entire clan. He was truly amazing, and to be honest, Naruto even venerated him but he'd never let the man hear that, he wouldn't stop hearing of it if he did so. "Someone tried to break into my apartment, earlier today," Naruto said beginning once again with the preamble, "I'm unsure about whether or not this person has done anything to my household, but so far I haven't come upon anything, however you can't never be too cautious." He said eying the man whom he'd considered to be a paragon of intelligence.

"Well said," Youhei said, nodding, "So do you have any ideas about who would want to break into the demon of Konoha's apartment." Normally that would have stung, coming from the lips of one of his most trustworthy friends, but Naruto understood, simply noting that Youhei was simply approaching the situation from the prospective of the person who had broken in. That was one thing that Youhei did that he never liked doing, thinking like someone else; Naruto couldn't stand the notion of thinking any other way besides his current way of processing the outer world, it made him feel like he was getting of off touch with his own mind. Although when it was necessary Naruto did not hesitate to adopt the ways of the enemy in order to crush them. To him his way was perfect for him, but that was probably why Youhei was the head of the Konoha Investigations and Forensic Science Bureau and he was not. And being the head of that division, it was natural for him to know of Naruto's position as a technical Anbu.

After a long pause Naruto nodded, "Actually I do, on my Genin team... my partner."

He raised an eyebrow, "The Hyuuga?"

"No, the Aburame," Naruto responded clearly, his words flavored with a hint hostility.

"But he's in the hospital-" He was cut off.

"Or so he wants everyone to think, I know that's what I thought when I came to visit him and found that he was gone, and left in his place was a small but noticeable mark of the window sill, signaling that he had jumped out," Naruto said pointing to his window, "Kind of like that one right there. Call it a hunch, but I think that this second agent has replaced himself with my teammate, that would explain his odd behavior." Youhei looked on, listening attentively, his super computer mind analyzing each word carefully, inside and out. His sleek bright red hair glowed contrastingly against the white moonlight hitting his clan's trademark. "I mean, you leave the hospital, keeping people thinking that you're still there and then later on in the day the apartment of the person who took Mizuki out is breached, in which both incidents left salutary evidence, which "coincidentally" happen to be of the same nature: a shoe print. That's too suspicious not to be checked out."

Youhei nodded, narrowing his eyes, he didn't speak, he just slipped his hand into his pocket pulling out a small pen like device, with one button on it exactly where it would be on an actual pen. It clicked and almost immediately a small, dark violet light flickered into existence on the side of the pen.

"A black light?"

"Even better," Youhei responded keeping his back to Naruto and his pen carefully poised above the small scuff, "A black light scanner, it works just like a regular black light, except I modified it, using the latest tech in optical character recognition, so not only can this black light illuminate and distinguish anomalies it can also record them. So in theory, this pen... can see." The light from the pen buzzed, growing louder, every time his hand would swipe over the scuff.

Naruto smiled, as expected, he uttered one word: "Ingenious." Or maybe just plain old genius was more fitting, either way the outcome was the same, Youhei was f-ing smart.

"Thank you." He responded.

Naturally, I'd expect that you have enhanced that thing's pattern recognition programs, right?" His answer was a small but perceivable nod from the Fumina clan head.

His hand gently glided over the small mark one final time, making it a bright white until he turned off the pen with an audible click and slipped it back in his pocket, "Done, but it would have been easier if you room didn't let in so much moonlight."

"Hey, what can you do?"

"Nothing much except buy some damn drapes. Anyway, I'll have the guys in the criminalistics sub-division look into the other mark at the hospital and I'll call some guys to investigate you apartment as well. As you said, we don't what this person has done to your place.

Naruto almost twitched, "No! I want this to be strictly esoteric, no one outside from me you and the Hokage should no about this."

"Why?"

"Well, let's say that you do tell your guys to investigate the hospital and my place, as good as the person is, he'll find out about it, therefore he'll know that we're aware of him being here," Naruto paused, staring directly into Youhei's eyes, "And I don't want this person, whoever they are, to know that we all know that he's here. That might just make it harder for us to find him, because he's aware."

Youhei looked away, considering the idea, but then shook his head. "OK, lets say that there's the off chance that this person isn't Shino and that your wrong; we still don't know whether or not he has taken the guise of Shino, however if we make noise about it and investigate your house and the hospital simultaneously, then the spy will realize that he's been compromised."

"Exactly, just as I said, either way, that just proves my point." Naruto countered.

You shook his head, "But, If I'm right and this person _is _in fact someone who isn't under the guise of Shino then he'll realize that, no, he hasn't been compromised entirely, he'll just know that we suspect other people who might be working with Mizuki."

Naruto cupped his chin with his hand, his eyes then widened in realization. "Therefore, he will be pressed to act quickly!" The blond boy said.

"Exactly, and we can use that against him, his haste will be his downfall. We already know what this person wants: the scroll of sealing, therefore all we have to do is spread the word that someone may have been working with Mizuki, causing him to act quickly and go for the scroll which we will have loosely guarded in order to immure the bastard."

Naruto chuckled, the he went again, thinking like the enemy, no wonder he hadn't thought of that. But then Naruto's opened a bit wider. "Wait, there is a fatal flaw in your plan, if he isn't Shino then he'll know that the break in wasn't caused by him, what if he rules it off as just another random burglary and takes his time trying to get the scroll?"

Youhei smiled and stuck his finger in the air, "Simple, then we've got him in the village for a couple more days, giving us more time to nail him and possibly find out more information about his employer, Orochimaru."

"Then it's settled," Naruto said pumping his fist in the air. "Tomorrow have this apartment investigated...oh and make a lot noise about, make sure it get around the village that the demon of Konoha has gotten robbed by one of Mizuki's accomplices."

"I can do that," Youhei responded thoughtfully, but technically he'd only be making noise where it mattered. Civilians, for one, would have no idea what was going on, just another robbing, but the people that mattered would have to be subject to the story that Youhei would tell them. "Oh Naruto, seeing as how my boy's are going to be over here "investigating", his use of air quotes was amusing, "where will you be sleeping?"

Naruto had to think about that for a second, he'd totally forgotten. But then a twinkle developed in his eyes, "I think I've got a pretty good idea."

Youhei didn't like the way Naruto said that, it seemed all too suspicious. He was planning something... audacious, he was preparing to perform some form of vagary that would, no doubt, leave him with a twitching eye. "Naruto don't create too much a pother." The Fumina said before turning to leave, but not before flashing Naruto a two fingered grin which Naruto cheerfully reciprocated.

"Hai, Hai, I won't, so don't worry, anyway, you'd better be getting, because right now I've got a cold cup of ramen that needs some immediate tending to."

"Yeah, you're right, wouldn't want to keep the family waiting now would I?"

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Dinner was laid out but Konoe sighed at it, wasn't as if it didn't look good. Damn, it was extravagant. at the moment she just wanted to ravish it. Being released from the hospital finally meant that she would have to stop eating the slop they kept serving. It was about time that she had some real food in front of her, something that was actually edible. But sadly, the world wasn't fair and just as she was about to devour her meal, plate and all, she noticed something.

Her father wasn't at the table or even in the house for that matter, and it was right about that moment that she wished she hadn't suggested that they all refrain from eating until everyone was present. Her mother, who stared at her amusingly from across the dining table chuckled at her daughters obvious difficulty in maintaining her self control.

"Having trouble I see, I bet you're really hungry with all that good food staring you in the face." Her mother said teasing. Sanae, who was sitting at her left on the opposite side of the large rectangular table said nothing, that was odd.

Usually Sanae would be the one who stimulated the teasing in the family, but for some reason she seemed... off, ever since they left the hospital. She hadn't even uttered so much as a single word so far.

"Well of course I'm having trouble, I'm hungry!" she said throwing her arms up, "That "food", she said openly using air quotes, "that they gave me at the hospital was worst!"

Her mother rolled her eyes, "Well that's too bad, because until you father gets back, we won't be eating dinner." The table barely budged as Konoe's forehead forcefully slammed into it, a groan coming from where her head lay. "Well, I'm sure that he'll be back pretty soon, if I know him he'll walk through the doorway complaining something about how bad his job is."

Almost as if it were a rehearsed play, her father came in, doing exactly what his mother had predicted for him to do. Bursting through the doorway to their dining room, Youhei rolled his shoulders, an exasperated sigh coming with it. "Whew, I hate my job, it's too much of a hassle. Too many people rely on me," he said, his eyes flicking toward his wife and then onto his two children.

Konoe said nothing, she just inched her eyebrow at mother. Just as she had said, he did walked through the doorway, and he did complain; she found it uncanny how well her mother knew and could predict her father's actions like that. She found it even more uncanny when her father did the same thing to her mother. One would expect something similar to this from a happily married couple and one would _also _expect to get used to it after a while. But strangely Konoe never got used to it, how could she, they were never wrong about each other.

Weird, yet heartwarming at the same time.

"See I told you he would do that," her mother said cheerfully.

Youhei sighed, "Oh here we go again, are we going to eat or are we going to spend the rest of the night trying to predict each others' actions, because if we are, then tell me ahead of time." He said down next to Konoe, who inched her seat over to give him some room.

"Well," Mei began with a smile, "we be doing this again if you weren't so predictable."

"I'm not predictable!" Youhei said, holding his hand to chest as if her were offended.

"Yes you are." She responded.

"Am not," he turned to Konoe. "Konoe am I predictable?"

As a response she gave him a smile, bringing up two fingers from each hand, her father mirrored her actions and they both flexed twice saying, "Yeeeaaaah" in unison. Their voiced carried a slight hint of sarcasm as they both stretched the word out to enhance the sarcasm.

"Yeah, and another thing, both you and Konoe use air-quotes way too much, especially when you don't agree with something."

"Yeah you do." All heads flicked in one direction, Sanae had actually chosen to say something. "I'm just saying," she smiled when her mother giggled beside her.

Konoe narrowed her eyes playfully, "Well you and Okaasan aren't that much different, we know you just as well you know us."

"Hm, do you now?" Sanae fired back.

"Yeah, we do," Konoe said," Like the way you both cock your heads to the side and go "eh" whenever you don't agree with something."

Both Sanae and Mei gasped lightly, cocking their heads to the side, "Eh, we do not," they both said in unison. Konoe and Youhei smiled, causing both Sanae and her mother to look at each and frown, they then looked back at Konoe and Youhei.

They all broke out in laughter, dinner time was often like this; happy, blissful, Sanae needed something to get her mind off of Naruto and dinner with the family would definitely do the trick.

"Alright, Alright, that's enough, I think that our food's getting cold." Youhei said, placing his hands together in a polite manner, once everyone else followed his lead and did the same, he closed his eyes.

In unison they pronounced one phrase: "Itadakimasu."

With that, the feast began, Konoe wasting no time, her chopsticks almost seemed as if they had been compelled to fly right into her fingers. Noodles flew, rice erupted into the air, and the loud clank of chopsticks and silverware against ceramic plates and bowls were the only thing that could be hear for a while. That is until...

Someone knocked on the door.

"I'll answer it," Mei said, not bothering to make a reach for her own food, excusing herself from the table. She left the kitchen, her footsteps fading away until they stopped completely and the sound of a door swinging open was heard."Oh, Naruto, what brings you here?" She said, her voice growing considerably louder.

Both Sanae and Konoe perked up at this, along with there father. Did she just say Naruto? Youhei mentally slapped himself, he should have known what Naruto was planning when he said he had a "good idea", damn if Youhei had to make an air quote for every time Naruto had a "good idea", then his fingers would probably have fallen off by now. But he had to admit, that was a smart idea for getting a place to stay, in doing this he basically ensured that he had a place to sleep for the night.

Moments later, Mei came walking back in the room, a scowl on her face, Naruto following closely behind, a smile on his face.

"Honey... why didn't you tell me that Naruto had been robbed and had nowhere to stay", she came closer, their faces mere inches away. "And your boys are the ones who are keeping him out of his own house... care to explain." Nervously Youhei looked past his wife, directly at Naruto's face, giving him a look that Naruto knew the exact meaning of. What was Naruto thinking, just showing up out of the blue like that, so much for a _good _idea. If he wanted to stay over he could have just said so, back at his apartment, but Youhei knew Naruto better than that. Those were not his ways, he was never outright with anything, always the one to want to make an unexpected entrance, that was so like him.

The blond boy sighed, he'd had his twenty seconds of fun. "No, No Mei-san, don't blame him, I told him that I'd have somewhere else to go... but," he looked away convincingly, "that didn't work out so well."

Her blue eyes swiveled over at Naruto, and then back to her husband. "Hm, fine, Naruto are you hungry, we've got more than enough to go around."

Naruto answered with a shake of his head, "No, I already ate before I came here. Right now I just want to go to sleep."

Sanae, immediately sprang up, hitting the table with her knees that resulted in the clamorous clatter of tableware. "I-I'll take you to the guest bedroom!" Sanae stammered out as she shuffled over to Naruto. His arm moved first and then his head, as she pulled him away, walking out of the kitchen to a different part of the manor, where the floorboards didn't squeak and everything was a clean as a bar of soap. He said nothing as he was pulled through a long dimly lit corridor, only staring at the back of her head.

She was frantic about something. They wound up in front of a door, lined in the hallway was row of doors that all looked the same. She swayed her hand, "These are the guest quarters, pick any door you like."

He shrugged, walking ahead, "Sure, hey thanks for let-" he was cut off when he flet Sanae grab him by his wrist, pulling down hard. "But first Naruto, I want you to tell me something, we're alone so you can be honest. Why aren't you telling Konoe about your secret?"

He sighed, not bothering to turn around. "So I take it that you haven't told her anything yet, huh?" He brought his free hand up to scratch his head.

She shook her head, even though she knew that he couldn't see her, "No I haven't, but you're not answering my question why didn't you tell her back in the hospital?" Her hand gripped his wrist tightly. "Was it because of my mom and dad? Huh Naruto, were you scared to say it around my parents?"

Naruto didn't say anything for a while, causing Sanae to give his hand a shake, "Tell me." Her tone was laced with seriousness.

"No, I wasn't scared Sanae, you see, the truth is your parents already know, they've known since the day we met." He felt the pressure leave his wrist as Sanae let go, taking a step back.

"What?"

"Yes, and I promise that Konoe will find out soon enough, you see, I don't want to just tell her. I want her to see, I want her to experience it, much like you did. I don't want a trace of doubt in her eyes when I tell her, I want her to know, fully, just who I am and I'm afraid that I can't do that by simply telling it to her."

"Fine... you do this your way, but I'll give you some time and if I fell like she needs to know then I'm telling her myself." Naruto nodded and she defiantly walked off. One thought swirled in her mind the entire time, her parents knew! Her parents knew! It was a thought that she kept in her mind and a thought that lead her all the way back to the dinner table where she sat down quietly, a neutral expression on her face as she finished the rest of her dinner.

That left Naruto to pick his room. It would be in his best interest to pick a room that he liked as well; due to this little plan that he and Youhei had concocted, he would be out of his house for a long time.

Or at least until this bastard was caught.

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The streets were unusually noisy today, even for Konoha, this was too much clamor. Normally one would expect to hear the usual clamor the filled the streets, kids running around early in the morning, merchants setting up for the day, citizens engaged in badinage, the occasional multi-flutter of a dozen pigeons flapping away. But today, this noise was different, it was on a different level, escalating from noisy to just plain tumultuous.

It didn't take a genius to figure that much out, but fortunately for Shino he was a genius... in his own way, so therefore, he could go the extra mile. He walked, his straight posture distinguishing him from the many hunched over or slouched people who walked and ran past him.

He quirked an eyebrow, that was funny, they all seemed to be heading in the same direction. Perhaps the cause of this early morning disturbance. Putting a spring in his step, Shino increased his pace, breaking into a rather fast stride. It would have looked outre, however, along with the people running past him, his speed walking looked perfectly in place.

Yesterday, he had broken into Naruto's apartment, unfortunately he wasn't as sly as he thought he was and Kurenai discovered him. To put it mildly, Kurenai was perturbed that only after a single day of training Shino was willing to breach his teammates' home, if he remembered correctly she called it "despicable", hopefully his foolish actions hadn't placed him into an odium with his sensei. After a long-winded and VERY tedious lecture given by Kurenai, he was on his way, accompanying his sensei to their training ground where he partook in some light sparring with "HINATA ONLY", as Kurenai-sensei had so gracefully put it.

_'So far, Hinata is the only person who is unaware of Naruto's hidden talent, she will have to be informed.'_ mind then went back to the topic of his not so sneak break-in, Kurenai being the only person who knew about it, and while she promised not to tell a soul, he still couldn't help but get the slightest inkling in the back of his head. For some reason he felt, he didn't know how, he just felt that Kurenai-sensei wasn't the only person who knew about the breaching.

But just as he had turned the corner, following the crowd, he felt the need to hold his breath. He had come up the realization that his inkling was correct, and he finally figured out where this crowd was actually heading to... and it made him nervous.

Walking with the flow of pedestrian traffic, his head inclined until he came to a stop, right where a clustered ring of people stood, making a semi circle in front of...

Naruto's apartment. He felt the heated tickle of sweat roll down his nose as his quick stride hastened into a light jog. Not good, they knew, but more importantly, Naruto knew!

Several shinobi stood guard at the front of the apartment, sustaining what little balance a crime scene was allotted to have. Most likely, there were more of them inside. He could see all of the guards faces clearly, at least those on the outside, but he had no time to stare, he needed to be somewhere else but just as he was about to take to the rooftops he did a double-take.

Did he just see... no it couldn't be. He shook his head and his legs shot forth, launching him into the sky. It might have been his imagination but he thought he had just seen, the head of the Konoha investigations bureau, Fumina Youhei, but what would he be doing here, present at the scene of such a low key crime? And maybe he was imagining this too but... was he staring at him?

He landed on the roof and immediately sprang off in the direction of his next destination, the training grounds.

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"He's late," Naruto said leaning against a tree.

"A-ano, maybe he's still at home." Hinata said staring down at her twiddling thumbs.

"Maybe..." Naruto responded, _'Or maybe he's tied up in a closet while his doppelganger is out trying to secure the scroll of sealing." _He made sure to keep that last sentence to himself. Kurenai turned, looking at him with a smile.

"Well you're in a bad mood today, was it because of what happened yesterday?" She asked.

"I guess, so," he responded, "I still can't believe that someone tried to rob me." He said, donning on a mask of obliviousness, as if he didn't know who it was that broke in. In fact Naruto was aware that it was in fact Shino who was inside his apartment. He'd stopped by his apartment to get an update from Youhei; forensics told Naruto that the scuff from the hospital matched the scuff from his apartment. Not a single difference in the two marks, a perfect match.

And now Naruto was certain that Shino had been in his house. Although he had no clue as to whether or not it was the real Shino and not the second Oto agent, but he had to think about that. The odds of the real Shino breaking into his home were slim to none, most likely "Shino" was the second agent in disguise.

Kurenai turned back around, it appeared that Shino still hadn't told Naruto. She really hoped that he would, lest their camaraderie be diminished if he didn't.

"A-ano, I also h-heard about-... w-what happened t-to you." The look Naruto gave her when she spoke made her look away, perhaps she had said too much. The last t-thing that she wanted was for Naruto to think that she was inconsiderate. "S-sorry about that."

"Thanks, but its not your fault some bastard decided to break into my house."

She only nodded at his response and looked away allowing some silence to settle in.

"Well we had better begin soon," Kurenai's voice broke through the silence. She extended one hand and pointed out into the distance. "Because the last member of our team has arrived."

True to her word, Shino could be seen walking slowly toward in the distance, his hands jammed into the over-sized pockets of his gray jacket. He seemed to be walking... rather slowly, as if he were perturbed by something. Walking up to them, the Aburame threw one hesitant hand up.

"I apologize for my tardiness, I hope I haven't caused you all any form irritation."

"Not at all," Kurenai said, "well at least not Naruto." She said adding an extra hint of something with the mention of his blond teammate's name. Behind his black specs, his eyes narrowed, he could see what she was trying to do.

He turned to Naruto, "I apologize for your annoyance," he said bowing curtly to the boy.

"That's fine." This certainly didn't seem like a fake Shino, maybe this was the real Shino. Or maybe this was just a no good shinobi with amazing acting skills. Shino kept his head down, couldn't believe that he was about to say this...

"I am also sorry for what happened," he continued not moving a muscle. That caused Naruto raise an eyebrow.

"What do you-"

Shino cut him off, "Your home, I heard that someone had broken into it." Naruto breathed in sharply, what was that supposed to mean? He was the one who broke in in the first place. He was vaguely aware that his fist had curled up into a fist. He frowned, gritting his teeth, here he was staring at the back of the head of person that he knew had broken in. The entire purpose of the plan he and Youhei had made was to ferret out the second Oto agent and get him to divulge his identity, as of now there was only one suspect as to who he might be pretending to be, and that was Shino.

Certainly this plan would run a lot smoother if he narrowed down and eliminated some of the possible outcomes, right? Naruto didn't think about it, he just acted, his actions guided by a sense of obligation and a little bit of anger. Smoothly, accompanied with the sound of his shoe sliding against the dirt, Naruto's foot shot upward and smashed into Shino's face.

The boy wrenched up, his chin pointing toward the sky until he fell to the ground on his back, his glasses quickly landing a few feet from his head. Shino had no time to react, all he saw was a flash of black and orange and the next thing he knew his eyes were unprotected, exposed to the annoying glare of the sun.

"Naruto, what's wrong with you?" Kurenai shouted angrily, she moved grab him by the ear but her hand stopped halfway when she was suddenly hit by an unexpected wave of killing intent. It wasn't enough to paralyze, just enough to startle. But even so, his Ki was unusually potent.

Hinata, simply gasped, her mouth agape; she hadn't even seen what happened. His movements were so quick, no too quick, all she was a slight hint of movement and Shino went flying. Why would he do that, she couldn't believe it, Naruto hit him! Her mind search, more like raced for a conclusion, anything at all would do. Anything that was good enough to logically explain why Naruto just plowed his foot into Shino's face!

"N-naruto w-why did-" She was cut off when the raised his hand promptly silencing her. It was funny at that moment, Naruto felt a bit like the Hokage, but that wasn't the point, the point was that Shino was now vulnerable. Whether or not it was the real Shino, he had still broken into his apartment, and Naruto wanted to now why.

Shino groaned, his eyes barely open, the throbbing pain in his head shot down toward his body, just like when Naruto had kicked him before. He grunted when Naruto dropped down onto his stomach, he released a spray saliva from his mouth. The bile tasted foul and bitter.

"Shino, answer me now! Don't ask, just answer. My house was recently, broken into, do you know anything about it?" Kurenai raised an eye brow, what was he asking? Did he know? She couldn't say that she was surprised though, with the level of skill that he possessed she had no doubt that the boy had connections as well, and those connections would have no problem in tracking down someone who broke into his apartment. But did he have to go and exacerbate the situation; in her opinion a kick to the head like that was pejorative and just outright unnecessary. What Shino had done was wrong and it was obvious that Naruto was perturbed about, however, that still did not deem it okay to go and do something like this. After all, Shino was still her student and she couldn't stand here and let this happen.

She released a strong wave of Ki, and for a second it matched Naruto's swirling with and crashing into it like the waves at sea. Naruto turned his head, apparently she had gotten his attention. "Kurenai-sensei please stay out of this!"

"No Naruto, I can't do that, you are both my students and as your sensei I will NOT except this type of behavior." She flicked her gaze over to Shino, his head was probably still a messy haze from that kick, even so, "Shino, go ahead, tell him what you know."

After a long series of groans Shino finally said, "I-I do know something." Naruto turned his head back to Shino.

"As I thought!" he spat, "I already know that you are the one who did it but I want hear from you; are you the one who broke into my apartment?" He grabbed Shino by the collar, shaking him twice.

Weakly, the spec-less boy answered back with a weak... "Yes I was, please forgive me for my intrusion." Naruto narrowed his eyes, he was right, the second spy was Shino and he could now clearly aver that this boy was _not _Shino. "I-I just wanted to find-" He was cut off when Naruto slammed him yet again into the ground, this time with more force. Shino didn't know why, but under the heart stopping gaze that Naruto was giving him, he felt... something. A grip of some paralyzing, emotion; he didn't want to speak, he didn't want to move, hell at the moment Shino was afraid that if he even breath too loudly Naruto would kill him. Wait, he was afraid; he was scared! Shino's breathing quickened as he came upon the realization as to what he was feeling....

Dread. Fear in its most potent form, all he could do was sit there in fear thinking that this was what an Anbu's pressure felt like. Thick, smothering, overwhelming.

"What did you want to find?" Naruto asked, his voice going down calmly.

Shino said nothing.

"Go ahead, tell him, tell him what you told me." Kurenai said from behind them, this cause Naruto to turn his head with a sharp twist, "You knew about this!"

He turned back when he felt Shino's hand on his shoulder, the boy's hand tense yet still shaking. "I-I know who you are, who you truly are...Naruto Uzumaki, Anbu Shinobi of Konoha."

Naruto's eyes widened, how did Shino know that? That confirmed it, this wasn't Shino. The pointy tip of a gleaming kunai made its way toward Shino's throat, stopping just a few inches away. "And how is it that you know that... answer me this, are you the real Shino? Choose your words wisely, because depending on you answer, I may just have to kill you."

Shino raised an eyebrow, "I-... I am, Shino," the tip of the kunai inched forward, " I am... P-please trust my word."

"Then explain how you know of my existence as an Anbu," he said pressing the blade so that it made contact with skin. Underneath him he could feel Shino's reflexive flinch.

Shino glanced at Kurenai, his black eyes staring at her asking for guidance, but sadly he found none, just the impassive glare of her red irises. Strangely, but it seemed as if she knew what was going on. Instinctively his eyes flicked back to Naruto when he felt the kunai press an centimeter forward and coming with it the a drop of liquid too warm to be sweat.

"Because... in the hospital... when you and Kurenai sensei were speaking... I-I was awake, and I-I h-heard everything." Naruto narrowed his eyes.

"Prove to me that you're Shino Aburame." His request was later answered by a small line of bugs crawling their way from under Shino's collar.

The boy was telling the truth. No matter how well prepared an enemy may be to disguise themselves as another, there were certain things that just could not be copied. For example, certain doujutsu and clan traits, fortunately for Shino his family's unexplained self-nursing of insects counted as one of these things. And if this was in fact the second Oto nin, then he should not have been able to summon his insects , especially in such a proper manner, insects walking in a perfect line, not natural.

It brought his mind to one conclusion, that Shino was in fact who he claimed to be, but that still did no explain why he left the hospital unannounced or broke into his apartment for that matter. Well now was a good as time as ever to find out.

"Alright, I believe you, but tell one thing, why did you leave the hospital without checking out?"

Shino quirked an eyebrow, "The window was much faster method of departure; I suppose my logic was flawed."

"And my house?"

"I was attempting to secure any scrolls or sort of personal agenda that would help me understand how you had acquired your strength," he hadn't noticed it but Naruto had retracted his Ki, finally giving him the ability to speak in clear orotund sentences.

Naruto rose, allowing Shino to stagger back to his feet. He turned his head to the left, he wouldn't show it but he was dumbfounded at the moment. How could this have happened, he was bamboozled by a mere string of coincidences and simple thought, to put it in simple terms, he over-thought all that was going around him, things weren't as concealed as he had perceived them to be.

There was no second Shino, the Oto nin never entered his home; the entire reason for him and Youhei was lure out the double agent, whom he had already thought was Shino. That turned out well for him, and as of now there was an entire squad of investigators searching through his home and Shino's hospital room possibly for no reason at all!

That wasn't good, in future, he would have to make sure never to follow any of his hunches without the sufficient, nay, ample points evidence.

"Naruto-... what did you mean when you asked whether or not I was the real Shino, is there any reason to suspect that I am not Aburame Shino?" Naruto's head snapped back, his eye finding the now stable Aburame next to him.

"That's classified." Naruto responded instantly, there was no reason in getting them even further involved.

"Is this about the Oto agent incident?" Kurenai asked.

"You know?" Well she was a Jonin after all.

"Well I am a Jonin after all," she said. Exactly his point

"Yeah, it is, and I've just gotten myself some valuable information." Naruto said, "That being the case, I would like to ask of your permission to leave."

Kurenai threw up a hand, waving it loosely, "Well you're the Anbu." Naruto nodded before making a hand sign, his body then slowly faded away before he teams' eyes.

Kurenai turned to both her students, Shino and Hinata were positioned so that she had turned her head whenever she wished to look at them. Shino, his face devoid of any eye-wear, looked at her attentively and Hinata, well, the girl hadn't moved as much as an inch, her back seemingly glued to the back of the tree. She had almost forgotten that Hinata was there, well, almost. Honestly the girl was too taciturn for a her own good, and Kurenai had no doubt that anyone besides her on team eight would be willing to start a conversation with Naruto after what just happened. Hinata already with her shyness wouldn't so much as say a word Shino was just... Shino, she had the strange feeling that Naruto had just made this team a very _silent_ team at the most.

Oh great. "Shino, Hinata... I want you to tell not a soul of what you heard."

"A-ano, s-sensei, is that true, is Naruto really A-anbu?" She couldn't believe it, her crush was this type of person. She definitely had no chance with him now.

Kurenai, nodded, "Yes Hinata, that was Naruto... that was the real Naruto."

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For some reason the Jonin loved spending large amounts of time together, which was fine with these two, so that meant that they were training nearby each other. So starting today, they both began walking together about as far as they could toward their sessions until they had to part their separate ways and walk toward their own training grounds. Starting from today they were official ninja meaning that they were now recognized by the village and that meant that they had to act maturely, no more fighting or arguing for them over the precious... and handsome... Sasuke-kun. They needed to get their friendship in order before anything else, therefore they were going to do this as a way to restore the relationship back to its previous level.

No hard feelings between the two.

OK, maybe one was just a little, only a little, bit jealous of the other, after all Sakura was on Sasuke's team, and Ino wasn't. And for the young Yamanaka girl, that sucked. She couldn't help it if she felt jealous, that was why she even proposed that they started this everyday ritual; so that Sakura wouldn't sense that she was jealous of her, after all who wants to be near person that they're jealous of.

But actually, she was enjoying this.

"Hey, guess what, Asuma-sensei said that he was going to help me build up my taijutsu skills!" Ino said with barely restrained enthusiasm as she pumped her fist forcefully at the air, knocking down imaginary foes.

"Really, our sensei... uh, he looks kind of boring."

"Who is he?" Ino asked, still pumping.

"Um... Hatake Kakashi..." Sakura replied lamely.

For a second Ino said nothing, then, "Who?"

"Exactly, I don't know anything about him, except that he likes those weird Icha Icha novels."

"Eww, that's gross," Ino suddenly said dropping her hands.

"What is there something wrong with them?"

"Uh... never mind."

The two of them walked down the street, this used to be the street they raced down. It was funny how things change, in an instant they had agreed to a truce. Which would most likely end whenever one of them had managed to score a date with Sasuke.

"What about you teammates, how are they...and don't talk about Sasuke, I already know about him."

Sakura looked up, oh yeah, Ino was so jealous right now, that was exactly what she wanted though. It was about time that Ino got a taste of what was always meant to be. Despite that, she was actually enjoying this.

"Well... Kiba is kind of... wild. He's loud and boisterous, but I guess he's not too bad, I mean he does have a lot, and I do mean a lot of annoying traits but once you look past that he's not so bad. He's actually sort of like a dog, treat him right and he'll bend to your will."

Ino quirked an eyebrow. "You learned that after two training sessions."

Sakura nodded, "Well, yeah he's just like any other boy, well, with the obvious exception of Sasuke-kun," Sakura then brought her hands up in a giddy little display of flailing fingers. "Sasuke-kun..." she said dreamily, but was soon brought back when Ino growled. "Oh my bad, what about your guys?" Yeah, get jealous.

At the mention of her two teammates, Ino said one word, "Hopeless," and that's all she was willing to say.

"You know I've been thinking, what about the other team, I wonder how they're doing?" Sakura said, noticing a big crowd of people, rushing ahead of them.

"Oh you mean, the other team... with Naruto and Hinata and that weird Aburame kid?"

"Yeah that one."

"I'd rather not think about it." Ino replied.

"Why?"

"Because that freak Shino suddenly popped down in front of me yesterday and just looked at me, you know, with those weird tinted glasses."

"Do you know why he did it?" Sakura asked.

"No, he just showed up and growled at me, he was all like, "You are not Naruto," and walked away." Her voice took on a sudden monotone as she imitated Shino's usually neutral voice. She suppressed a shudder when she remembered the angry buzz that came with the odd boy's growl. Never again would she even attempt to talk to him. "But before he hopped away I told him off, the jerk. I don't know what he was doing but apparently Naruto certainly had something to do with it."

"And speaking of Naruto," Sakura began, espying a large group of people clustered together in a tumultuous gathering, in the middle of them stood several Shinobi guards attempting to mollify the crowd and tame their growing curiosity. "Isn't that where he lives?" Sakura asked, pointing a finger toward the gathering of people.

"How should I know? How about we find out." Both girls nodded, a little detour before training never hurt anyone.

They ran up to the crowd and slipped through, first Sakura went, then Ino. The Yamanaka girl could barely keep track of her friend in the chaos, if not for the bright flashes of pink hair between bodies, Ino would have surely lost herself in the crowd. Finally they slipped through, somehow managing to poke their head out through mass of people, they were roughly near each other, Ino being a couple of bodies away from Sakura.

"What do you think this is?" Sakura yelled over to Ino, her voice partially drowned out by the crowd.

"Dunno, looks like a crime scene," Ino shouted back. Well that was obvious Ino-pig, she meant what type of crime scene. But as she attempted to move further out past the crowd, a blur of blue and black dropped down in the middle of the semi-circle, startling a lot of the villagers. Most of them had backed away, for some reason, leaving both Ino and Sakura out in the open. She blinked rapidly at her blond friend before looking back at the person in front of her.

"Oh my...-"

"-... Kami," she could hear Ino finish off for her.

"Naruto?" Standing in front of her was the robust, chiseled form of Naruto Uzumaki, his muscles bulging out through his tight, new clothing, which in her opinion was a step up from that dainty old jumpsuit that he used to wear. But no wonder he used to where that thing, most likely it was because he didn't want to be bothered with so many fan girls. Her mind went back to that day when she and a mass of other females chased him and Sasuke around. Naruto got a decent amount of fan girls but his number would have increased exponentially if he had been wearing this attire the entire time.

Ino remembered how Naruto looked before, when he walked into class. She noticed then but also but for some reason she had the uncontrollable urge to say it again.

_'Damn, he's hot_,' well in her mind anyway, but he was still not as cool looking as Sasuke. But she had to admit, she thought he looked stupid in that orange jumpsuit, but now in this new outfit, he actually made orange work.

_'Damn... he's hot, ah dammit Ino! Get that out of your mind, Sasuke is the only one for you!' _She shut her eyes shaking her head back and forth to fight down the formidable urge to ogle at his effulgent bod. _'I can't look, I won't look... but...._' she opened her eyes.

"Damn, you're hot," Ino said dreamily, letting those last thoughts slip out before she quickly gasped and covered her mouth blinking rapidly and switching her gaze from Sakura and Naruto. She hoped that Sakura hadn't heard that but the look on her pink-haired friends face old her otherwise.

What was that, did Ino actually say that? Oh she wouldn't hear the end of this, neither would the other Sasuke fan club girls.

Naruto switched his gaze onto Ino, picking up that last sentence. She shrunk under his stare, gasping before looking at the ground, attempting to hide the blush she thought Naruto hadn't caught a glimpse of. He looked out in the crowed, glares all around as he had expected, but there was something else.

Stares. Apparently those of the civilian girls who were around his age and watching as he dropped down had been staring at him the entire time. The air filled with murmurs and giggles and spread throughout like a wildfire. He then glanced at Sakura, her eyes glued to his.... chest....

Time for some fun. He brought his eyes back at Ino, the blond toed the ground girlishly, he would have said that she looked cute but surprisingly, blonds were not his type. Go figure. Even so, it would do him some good entertainment to do this.

_'Let's see how faithful __you are __to Sasuke ,' _he thought as he bent down forward by his waist. "What did you say?" He said, sounding rather confused.

Her head, instantly popped up, it was on fire, a massive blush as she looked right at him. "I-..Uh, um, I ju-... said, t-th....," she looked off to the side, ending her bit of incoherent babble and gave up, "N-nothing, I said nothing." Naruto then smiled, his eyes glancing back at Sakura and then to the girls in the crowd and then back to Ino.

His hand shot forth, two fingers smoothly sliding up her neck until they stopped at the tip of her chin, He guided her face back to his, leaving about a inch between their noses. He gave her moment, he let her take it all in. He could hear, no, with his two fingers he could feel her breathing, growing faster as the seconds past that he held her; she let out a small whimper at his touch.

And then, slowly, he allowed his face to slide past hers and his mouth came ever so close to her ear.

"You know," he began sensually, "I like blonds Ino, especially pretty ones." Ino's eyes widened as did Sakura's and every other girls' their age, the sudden outburst of giggles was enough to startle Ino.

He liked blonds? Ino then quickly glanced upward at her hair, her eyes flicking up and then down in less than a second.

_'W-well, I am blond,' _she thought to herself before Naruto pulled back and gave her a wink before letting his fingers drop from her chin. "I'll see you later." He said before he smoothly turned around, his hands in his pockets as the sounds of giggles were then replaced by dreamy sighs hitting his ears from behind him.

Oh yeah, he could be a womanizer when he wanted to. Of course that meant nothing to him, he just wanted to see if he would have any affect on one of Sasuke's fan girls, and apparently he did. Too bad though, if she ever tried to approach him, thinking that he actually liked her, he would have to brutally impugn her thoughts and shut her down. Man, he just set the girl up for disappointment didn't he?

...Oh well.

Walking past the guard, Naruto kept his head low and whispered to the man, "I'm going in to see Youhei, don't let anyone inside, not _even_ Shinobi. He didn't even stop walking as he uttered his words.

Ino, who was still in her state of permanent blush just touched the spot where Naruto head touched her. He said that he liked blonds, especially the pretty ones, that meant he thought she was pretty, right? Sasuke had never said anything like that to her. She snapped back to reality when Sakura hit her on the arm, she blinked rapidly, "Huh... wha- what?" She glanced back at Naruto, seeing his back disappear behind a closing door.

"What just happened?"

"I-I don't know." Ino replied, her eyes still glued to the now closed door.

"Hm, what's this... did you like it?"

She blinked, hard and turned her head violently at her "friend". "No, I-I was just caught off guard, that's all!"

Sakura giggled, "You liked it, admit it. But I don't blame you, he _is _hot, and I might have actually liked that myself, well I might have."

Ino narrowed her eyes, "Sakura _you_ would have fallen in love with him right there."

"As if."

"W-whatever, Forehead, let's just get to training, I don't need to be here anymore."

"Whatever, Ino-pig." Ino ignored that last comment, choosing not to take the bait. Her mind was set one thing and one thing only....

She had just been turned on by Uzumaki Naruto.

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_Clank Clank_

The bright flash of two kunai colliding with each other in mid air, produced a metallic crash that echoed throughout the clearing until it rose in frequency until it became so high that one could not hear it. The sound of metal clashing with metal, almost as soothing as metal crashing into skin.

Music to Anko's ears; she sat low, her calves positioned so that she was sitting on them. In her hand a partially finished dango skewer, two colored dumplings, on red and one white, the white on top and half eaten, indicating where Anko had bitten it. Next to her on the grass was a green box where two more skewers were waiting to be devoured.

Oh how she loved dango, sweet and tender, the food of the gods or in her case the goddesses.

Two more bursts of metallic sound brought a smile to her face and she glanced up to see her two pupils, interlocked in competitive combat, locked in the middle of the verdant grassy expanse. Unfortunately, she wasn't allowed to bring them back to the forest of death, so this was good enough. taijutsu training in a wide open plain was boring though, it added no excitement and due to the excessive lack of trees there certainly was no cover.

Although it was fun to see the two of them go at it.

Sanae was first to break away from the interlocking of blades, pushing upward with her own kunai; the sound produce a loud scrap of metal. The sudden divergence of blades left both girls with their hands in the air, kunai rising higher than their hands as both girls involuntarily let go of their weapons.

Anko narrowed her eyes, who would be first to react. Her eyes then widened a little, it was Konoe. Almost immediately after both girls were sent leaning back Konoe dropped down and twirled while extending her leg, her hair auburn hair twirling closely behind her as she made to trip her sister.

It proved only to be of limited usefulness as Sanae made one quick upward motion, a light hop barely evading the length of her leg, but that motion was too light as just as she was reaching the full height of her hop Konoe's leg made contact. It only brief, just a light brushing, but it was enough to lean her slightly to the right.

Sanae landed on her shoulder with a silent thud. Dammit, first they had to fight Anko-sensei, now they had to fight each other. Apparently Anko had said that they relied too much on tactic and their taijutsu was lacking, therefore that was where they would begin immediately. Although one couldn't blame her or her sister for relying on tactics and strategy, it was in their blood.

In one smooth, complete motion Konoe planted her leg on the ground, using her the momentum to carry her along as her second leg instantly shot forth, heading for her face.

_'Dammit!' _she thought to herself, but then an idea came into her head, this was a simple kick and it was easy to dodge something like this.

_'With her foot coming at me at that speed it should reach in about...," _everything seemingly moved slower, her eyes carefully analyzing everything about the foot. Speed, acceleration, the estimated weight of her leg, how much wind resistance her clothing would produce; in that split second Sanae took everything and formulated a counter action.

_'If I move back...' _She leaned back to a bit calculating the distance of her kick. Then everything quadrupled in speed as the world around her returned to normal time and like she predicted it would, the tip of Konoe's foot sail harmlessly over her nose, just missing it by two centimeters.

In the distance she could hear Anko yell out, "Ooooh, nice kick Konoe-chan!" But her jovial grin was replaced by an amused expression when Sanae stuck her hand out, grabbing hold of her sisters leg.

"Wha-... waaaahh!" Konoe yelled out as Sanae twisted her ankle and she toppled over from the sharp pain and the lack of balance. Shifting into a more comfortable position, Sanae wrapped both her legs around Konoe's leg and applied pressure, pushing her kneecap in.

Her sister yelled out. "Ow... ow ow, it hurts!" She twisted, attempting to free herself from her sisters impressively painful leg lock.

"I bet it hurts!"

"Yeah...oh, ow! Let go!"

"Tap out!" Sanae yelled, looking her sisters face. She could hear and see their sensei's shouts of encouragement from the background, her hands pumping up and down, it seemed that she thought she really was watching the television.

"Tap!" Sanae yelled out once more.

"No way...ahh!" That was about all Konoe could do, just defy the inevitable and take pain, her sisters leg locks really hurt. And what was even worse about it was that she was lying on her kunai and shuriken holsters....

Ouch.

Then Sanae gave one final, violent jerk, twisting her ankle dangerously hard. It sent a jolt of pain throughout her leg and Konoe yelled out.

"Ow... okay okay, I give, I give... just let go!" her hand beat rapidly against the grass producing nothing more than a small rustle.

"Ha! I win... hey Anko-sensei, I-" She stopped when the slight rustle of grass told her that Anko was behind her. The pointy tip of a dango skewer poked her shoulder, "Ow, what was that for."

The adult kunoichi clad in a brownish grey trench coat crossed her arms, pushing up a portion of her ample bosom. "If I'm correct I said we were going to simulate what a taijutsu only battle would be like, and by simulate I mean imitate the actual battle as it would be in the actual field."

"Yeah, so?" Sanae and Konoe said in unison, both of them quirking an eyebrow.

Anko knelt down, bringing her face closer to Sanae's, her hand resting on the girl's shoulder. She looked at her sensei's hand carefully before returning to her face. "So, do you think that in the actual field your enemy would just give up like that," Sanae shook her head, "No right? Then what do you think would have happened in the real field?"

"Um, I would have broken her leg?"

Anko nodded.

"W-wait... so you want us to actually hurt each other?"

She look away for a bit, one hand guiding the end of the dango skewer through her around her teeth, the other hand fingering her spiky ponytail. Her eyes were half lidded. "Well if you put it that way... than yeah." She then looked back at her two students a fresh smile on her face.

Was she mental?

She then began giggling, ensnaring the thin piece of between her teeth and lips.

Was she mental?

"Now... the both of you... do it again, we are going to be focusing on your taijutsu, and we're going to do it realistically. And do you know what that means?"

They shook their heads.

"It means that your going to be fighting for real this time, and that means blood."

Sanae paled, as did her sister.

"Now, get back to fighting... and the first one to draw blood or make a simulated killing blow wins." She saw that her two students were silent. Man, they were big babies, afraid of making each other bleed? Soft, well she would have to be the one to toughen them up. "My methods are a bit extreme, but trust me you will benefit from them." Actually, her methods were a bit insane but they didn't need to know that.

Anko turning her head was the only indication that someone else had approached them. Following there sensei's eyes, Sanae and and Konoe saw a man, an Anbu specifically. His snow white dog mask, glistening in the sun, he wore a long dusty cloak, obscuring the standard issue Anbu uniform that Anko just knew he was wearing.

In the distance he could be faintly seen, as if his body were constantly fazing in and out of reality. That was what he was, unreal, the sight of a lone Anbu standing far away, merely observing, captivating while unsettling at the same time.

Naruto came to mind, in a little while this was what Naruto would look like. It was too bad that Konoe hadn't found this out yet.

The seemingly magical Anbu member extended his hand, slipping it slowly through his cloak and brought forth one fey finger. It bent ever so slightly in his direction and Sanae instantly felt the need to do what he said, but Anko rested a hand on her shoulder yet again.

"Sanae... I need to be somewhere right now, you two continue on here and go home whenever you feel like. Remember the first to land a killing blow or draw a sufficient amount of blood wins." Her words came as nothing but s small whisper.

With that Anko calmly walked over to the Anbu. "You called?" She asked, her composure not even affected by his chimerical aura.

"Yes," he said letting the wind blow for a couple of seconds, "Mitarashi Anko, the Hokage has requested your presence."

"Well, can't that wait, I'm kind of in the middle of something as you can see." She said jerking her thumb behind her at her two students who hadn't moved out of their interlocked position.

He stood silent for a moment, still, emotionless, like a living statue that refused to budge. The only thing moving with his cloak and the small tufts of white hair on the back of his head.

"No, I'm afraid that cannot be done, you are needed now. Please if you will, dismiss your students."

Anko eyed him, this guy had no energy, he was just a bunch of monotone and punctuality. He was probably new, the guy really needed to lighten up.

"Actually, they're going to stay here and train, we can just go." He nodded. Anko placed a hand on his shoulder, "Hey are you new on the Anbu force?"

For a moment, he didn't reply but then he nodded saying, "Yes, you could say that." She quirked an eyebrow.

What was that supposed to mean?

But then he pointed behind her, "Excuse me but you said your students were here to train... so is there any reason why they are sleeping at the moment. Anko's eyes widened as she spun around, astonished to see that her two students were indeed fast asleep, they had not even moved an inch, they were just both asleep, Sanae still gripping her sisters leg as if it were intricately decorated plush doll designed to keep her safe at night.

Anger boiled up in her insides as she turned and began walking toward her students but stopped, her foot poised off the ground as she froze mid-stride and she was hit by a wave of something. Whatever it was... it was making her tired. This emollient ebbing its way into her mind, her eyes widened as much as they could as she realized what was going on.

"Wha-... wha- a genjustu..." she muttered wearily as she attempted to bring her hands together to form the necessary seal and dispel this somnolent sensation, but she soon found herself unable to move her hands, her vision had already begun to go white. Damn, this genjutsu was surprisingly fast acting.

Through the snow-like haze, she felt a hand on her left shoulder, no doubt the hand of that underhanded snake in the grass pretending to be an Anbu member. The next thing she heard was stark laughter, it was a dry laugh and it seemed somehow familiar like she had heard someone else laugh like that, however, Anko was not willing to try and remember that person. She feared that her body wouldn't be able to take it.

"Won't you help me Anko-chan." The man said.

She dropped to her knees, her body waving back and forth as she tried to fight the temptation of sleep. Above her she could barely see the fluffy silhouettes of minuscule flake-like particles. Snow? Through narrowed eyes she confirmed that it wasn't snow. It was in fact as if an entire flock, nay, colony of snow white doves had flown overhead at that instant, all of them choosing that time to molt, and with every flap, raining down a slowly descending blanket of pure feathers onto the ground.

_"_It's raining... feathers?" She managed to whimper out as she was overtaken by the white haven and pelt of feathers, following that was the muffled thump of her body hitting the ground. Then her mind was carried off into a world of white and... no wait that was it, just white. (I wonder how many of you thought of saying white an black)

Damn, this guy was no Anbu. One thing had made itself apparent as she slowly slipped away...

She had found the second Oto agent, well, actually he found her.... and more importantly, she hadn't finished the rest of her dango.

_Oh no_....

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Okay I'm done, and before anyone asks, no that little thing with Ino meant NOTHING, just a little fun that I decided to have. I hope you all enjoyed that portion of the story... because it will never happen again. Do all know why, well if you don't I shall tell you. It is because, from this point on, I am going to begin developing the relationship with Hinata and our womanizing friend Naruto.

Now that does not mean that I am picking Hinata right away, it is just a method to get you guys to see which one you want. You've already seen the relationship between Naruto and both Fumina sisters, and now you will BEGIN to see the relation form between him and Hinata. Tell me which one you think is better and then I'll see what I can do about that. And I can do a whole lot.

And I hope you guys can guess who the person that knocked Anko out is, I left really subtle, really deliberate clues. One of the clues is actually not that subtle, it should be a giveaway, overall it should be pretty easy for you to figure out who it was, especially with the little analogy I threw in there, that one was a really big hint.

Anyway, I shall not delay you any further from reading any other stories that you may want to read, but before you go, please make sure that you leave a review, short long, it really does not matter to me. A review is a review. Any, have a nice summer and...

Until next time

Thanx Latr

Next Chapter: Apex of all Conversations

GrIm'S sTePpIn' OuT


	6. Apex of All Conversations

Hello.

I am bored right now.

So I guess that I shall conquer my boredom by writing. That what I was thinking when I actually _was _bored at home, so like I stated before, I began writing, and while in the midst of typing this chapter, I stumbled onto an already overstated fact that I just could not help but repeat over and over and over.

The fact of the matter was... I was freaking bored, and there was nothing I could do to get rid of it.

What I'm trying to say here people is when one's mind is gripped by boredom, the absolute worst thing to do is say "Man I'm bored." Apparently it only adds to the already built-up mountain of boredom that has accumulated in and around you. I found out that the key to countering boredom lies within the all too well known confusion of doing something totally random.

Why am I telling you this.... well, because at the time....

I was bored

_'If then pen is mightier than the sword, then why are actions louder than words?'~ _Two of the most contradicting yet overused statements ever to be created.

Enjoy. It would be better for your health if you did....I'm just saying. (I'm watching you)

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Youhei looked down, holding his chin down in concentration, his face heavy with thought, stolid, effectively concealing the irritation in his eyebrows. The open window near him let in a nice amount of light; at the moment it was actually annoying. The glare was ineluctable. Primarily, that was not the reason that he was annoyed, no way, the real reason was by far much more irritating then a semi-blinding glare.

His tetchiness in fact, was elicited by a certain little blond genius that went by the name of Uzumaki Naruto. Two days ago he asked him to put into operation a false investigation in order to lure out this second Oto agent. He had no problem with that, not at all, but when he showed up the afternoon the ensuing day, his request was simply bizarre. Naruto was wrong, Shino was _not _being imitated, he was the real deal but Naruto thought otherwise.

To his chagrin, Naruto showed up at the faux crime scene requesting that the entire operation should be dropped at that very instant. Youhei sighed, remembering the look on his face, angry yet... apologetic. He soon discovered the reasons for Naruto's unusual expression and he couldn't say that he even in the least bit agreed with the boy's method for dealing with his formerly-accused partner. Someone as smart as Naruto was should have been using his brains, not his brawn, forcing an answer out of Shino was not the best thing to do and he could tell that Naruto figured that out the instant he learned that he was wrong about his comrade.

And now, he was here. Youhei leaned with his elbows onto the shiny metallic desk in front of him. He looked around, no on else was in the forensics lab. It's not like they would be, after all, the entire criminalistics division was infuriated with him when he told them to pack up and stop investigating without even explaining anything to them. Nervously he bit down on the tip of the blue ink pen between his fingers, his other hand tapping the white and _still_ blank piece of loose-leaf paper in front of him. This apology letter wasn't going too well.

Once again he sighed, thinking back to Naruto, the source of all his troubles. What was worse was that there was still an undiscovered and unknown, and potentially hostile enemy loose in Konoha. There was no way of luring him out now, no plan, no hope of catching him. Either this guy was really adept at hiding himself or they had really fucked up badly, unfortunately the scale in his mind tipped toward the latter of the two possibilities. There was a third possibility though, it could have been both options in one; the guy was smart _and_ they really fucked up.

That seemed to be the most plausible considering how he was feeling at the moment.

"Naruto, why did I let you do that?" He asked into the open air, to his disappointment no one answered. How could he have forgotten, he was alone.

Youhei sighed.

Hopefully by now, Naruto had made amends with his partner.

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Kurenai's eyes flicked eagerly toward Naruto, who sat beside her underneath the obscuring shade of the tree. Further off they both observed Shino and Hinata's spar session, the young Aburame's scalp wrapped to the forehead by sweat soaked bandages. His movements were impaired as opposed to his smaller but generally quicker opponent, Hinata. The small Hyuuga girl ducked and dipped, slipping through his guard so easily that the entire match seemed to be choreographed and Hinata was playing the part of the victor. Kurenai knew the reason for Shino's faltering. The little bundle of blond haired joy next the her.

Naruto, almost flinched when Kurenai grasped his shoulder, and he turned his head to stare directly into her glowing red eyes. They seemed to glow a bit more fervently today, no doubt on his account.

"Naruto-," she began, he'd already predicted the rest of her sentence, "- apologize to Shino." He turned away, narrowing his eyes. Why should he have, why did Kurenai even care about it? With all of his wit and cunning, the answer should have been obvious to him, but it wasn't. It eluded his every attempt to find it, and on the inside it was a bit frustrating. Naruto's inside confusion was shown when he asked the question engraved in his head out loud.

"Kurenai-sensei, what is a comrade? I was trained by the Hokage alone, so I don't have that much experience with teams." Despite his recent pre-addition to Saito's team, it was true.

Kurenai opened her mouth to answer him, but her lips pursed themselves together into fine a line. This was Naruto, the mystery of team eight, her mystery. He was right there with them but seemed so distant at the same time. But a small inkling in her stomach told her that this wasn't the normal Naruto speaking to her, this was a different person. A person not used to the affects of negative consequences; this was the Naruto who's mind she might have been able to slip into, the vulnerable one. It was obvious that he was sorry for what he did to Shino, truly he was, a Jonin's intuition never led them astray when it came to their students. Even with special cases like Naruto.

Her grip increased, as did Naruto's perplexed expression.

"Naruto, what don't you asked him?" Her finger drifted over in the direction of the fierce spar occurring between his two "teammates". As if he even understood the word.

"I-... I don't know...," his gaze faltered, causing him to look away. Naruto understood what a friend was, but a teammate, he had no clue. He didn't feel bad at first for hitting Shino, strictly because the Aburame was his teammate, not his friend. The same reason he hit Sakai with that genjutsu. But after a day or so of avoiding Shino, he began to feel... anxious about something. Feelings of guilt and frustration burned in Naruto's stomach; a person's teammates were nothing more than tools just as you were to them, right? If one needed to be sacrificed for a greater cause than by all means that was what would happen. That was reality, yet the consequence felt so bad. Why?

Hinata landed a clean hit on Shino's chest, again. Her taijutsu was naturally more finely tuned Shino's normally but like this the Aburame was hardly a challenge. Her curious partner seemed to be even more distant than he ever was, and strangely she found him sitting next to her since yesterday. Hence, he was scared of Naruto.

As she fired a two pronged strike at Shino's chest, aiming right at the tenketsu point right above the collarbone, a lethal blow, her fingers stopped short. She could see that Shino's breath was taxed by fatigue. "A-ano, Shino-san, maybe we should take a break?"

Shino replied by breathing heavily, only letting his answer come through the action of nodding his head slowly. Hopefully, for his and the team's sake, Shino's hebetude would exist ephemerally and would be gone in a couple of days.

"Shino-kun, Hinata-chan, good job. Take a break for now and in ten we'll begin genjutsu meditation."

Shino's frustration was marked only by the irate edge in his voice.

"My apologies for questioning you but according to the schedule you provided us with, our meditation sessions are not scheduled to be commence until later in the day." Shino said, his left arm hanging limply as he walked back to the tree, behind Hinata off course. Kurenai almost cringed from taking a look at Shino's partial Jyuuken induced paralysis. Luckily for her she couldn't imagine what it felt like to be on the receiving end of too many Jyuuken strikes so she couldn't empathize with him.

"A-ano Kurenai-sensei...a-are we g-going to...."

"Well, I decided to rush things a bit because today we have our first mission this afternoon." Kurenai replied.

Hinata's pale, listless eyes widened, before glancing at Naruto. He was turned away, she observed Kurenai's own glowing irises using her peripheral vision. Hinata was no genius but she was smart enough to read the look in Kurenai's eyes and figured out that she'd said something to Naruto. The gloomy tint to his eyes told her as well.

Memories of Naruto's violent eruption flooded back into her head, swishing around in a big pool of clear vivid images. She hadn't even seen the kick before it connected with Shino's face, just a burst of dust followed by an insanely loud smack. Even her Hyuuga eyes, the all seeing, never missing eyes that her family frequently boasted about couldn't track Naruto's unbelievably fast motion. Even if her bloodline _had_ been activated at the time, she doubted that it would have made a difference, her Byakugan didn't work like that, it wasn't that trained yet.

Naruto was by far the strongest person he'd ever seen, well next to her father and a select few of the Hyuuga elders that is. At the time, she was actually afraid for Shino, when Naruto released that wave of... whatever it was she'd almost wet herself. It was like being hit full force by a wave of his... feelings; smacked dead on by a wall of intention. It was frightening, while at the same time-- and she was ashamed at herself for it-- a turn on.

Kurenai's voice pulled her back from her thoughts, telling her to sit and rest. They wouldn't be doing anything physical until the mission, obviously they would need it.

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Anko didn't remember anything, just the strange and possessing sensations of rage and pain. She cracked her eyes opened, they burned from the cold air. She sat up, rubbing her sleep withered eyes free of the dry crust that built up.

Serendipity!

She was in the hospital, what a relief that was. However, reality soon hit her eyes and they parted.

Shit! She was in the hospital, what happened to her? More importantly what happened to Sanae and Konoe? Then the memories spilled back into her mind; the Anbu with a dog mask, the genjutsu of feathers, everything up until she passed out. Her neck was itchy, due to the crisp lining of the blue and white checkered hospital gown she was wearing. The airy, opened back of the gown provided her for an almost uncomfortable breeze. Looking down she could see a small clear tube snaking its way underneath the bottom of her gown.

The pounding in her head wouldn't stop.

Someone turned the knob to her brightly lit hospital room, room 206. She bit her tongue reflexively and recoiled from the sharp pain. As the warm blood trickled over her taste buds the taste in her mouth was now somewhat metallic.

The door swung inward, and the Hokage stepped inside, his eyes locked her. The pounding in her head suddenly got harder, much harder. She could not remember anything at all, yet she knew that she was in trouble. Two Anbu stepped inside with him but at his command they stepped back out, this was obviously something private. Forming one half-handed seal that she recognized as the seal for a special audio block ninjutsu, Sarutobi pulled a chair over to Anko's bed and sat.

She thought about speaking but was too afraid to say anything.

"Anko, you are hereby stripped of your rank as a Tokubetsu-Jonin." The first words hit her hard, almost causing her to faint, and her insides twisted and twisted and then exploded from the inside out, shooting the wild feeling of shock and dread together back at the rest of her body. Her lower-lip began to tremble, not because she was afraid of him but because she was afraid of what she had done to receive this.

Anko's body jerked forward and almost immediately she was hit with a flaring wave of impeding pain. She slipped off the edge of her bed, landing hard on her hip, and gripped her Hokage's robes. When she opened her mouth to say "why" her voice cracked, cutting the already small question into even smaller bits and pieces. Luckily the Hokage manage to discern her speech.

"Why, why. What type of question are you asking me, honestly your stupidity vexes me. Do you honestly want me to explain the severity of what you did yesterday, and after I told you not to go overboard with your students." Even though she could tell that he was angered, the Hokage spoke with the aplomb of a practiced professional. As she had been informed now, _she _had done _something_ to her two pupils. And if she remembered clearly, she hadn't finished her dango!

Clawing at his robes once more, Anko stared him and he watched as she... climbed, for lack of a better word, up his leg.

"Wha-...at, please, t...ell me. I-I, can..'t-" She was silenced, flooded over with the sensation of heavy, thick killing intent that filled her insides. It smothered her, covered her, slipped into her mouth and filled her entire being with fear. As of now she was replete with dread.

That previous aplomb in Sarutobi's voice was gone."You can't what Anko? Don't tell me that you can't remember!"

"B-But... I- can't-...-" Sarutobi's hand came swiftly before stopping at the fore of her face, she cringed.

"Quiet, you can't remember how you viciously attacked and chased your two students around the entire village yesterday, holding no consideration for their safety or for that matter anyone else's!?" Anko gasped, and her hands fell back against the cold marble floor; she breathed heavily with fear. She was puling, whimpering, almost crying at the fear of what she had almost did to her students. If she was this damaged then she couldn't even begin to fathom the apogee of injury that her students were on. "I'm ashamed! The Anbu brought you to my office, you were conscious and very aware of what you were doing, in fact you said you were angry at them!" Sarutobi all but yelled.

The door opened again and Sarutobi growled, whipping around. "I thought I said no one come in-" but he stopped noting the person who stepped inside. The man in black, the man who worked closer to Anko than anyone else in the village, the man who helped shape the formerly respected kunoichi groveling in front of him right now.

Morino Ibiki.

His eyes were hard, angry as her mind had corrected her. Whatever this was, she knew that she wouldn't like it.

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Hinata was the first the arrive at the Hokage tower. Kurenai had allowed them to leave and go home for a moment, after that, everyone was to rendezvous in front of the Hokage's tower. She'd made sure that she slipped into the compound undetected, at least she thought, and left quickly, feeling a bit relieved that no one had seen her. The relief that she felt when not in her family's ancestral home, she admitted, made her feel somewhat ashamed.

Her neck swiveled left then right. Naruto nor Shino were here, again, she was relieved. Kurenai arrived second, and surprisingly she arrived walking next to Naruto. His eyes were disturbed and cast off to the side while her sensei walked peacefully as if nothing had happened. Something did happen, Kurenai did say something.

If she had to be honest, she wasn't as ecstatic about the team's first mission as she'd first believed she would be. The gloomy air that had settled over her team since yesterday was sucking the life out of team eight, what was worse was that she didn't know what to do. Shino had the benefit of the doubt, he was the victim while on the flip hand side... there was Naruto.

That was it, simply put. He was Naruto, what was she to do, avoid him? As if she could bring herself to do it out of contempt for him. She felt bad for wanting to take Naruto's side, despite him being at fault, but in her conscience she wanted to help him so much. She liked to see him when he was smiling and carefree, it made her imitate those same emotions.

But now... he was... he was-...

Hinata flinched when Kurenai's palm touched her, surprised at how bothered she was for still siding with Naruto after what he did.

"Hinata-chan," she whispered, "Will you do me a favor?" Hinata nodded knowing that she couldn't refuse. "I want you to speak." The Hyuuga's eyebrow was already arching itself, her confusion shown when she turned around slowly. Unknowingly, Hinata felt a little fearful of what that meant, she would have asked what it meant, but in time she would know. Was Kurenai asking for her to help settle the quarrel between her two male counterparts? Or maybe she was asking her to abandon her shyness? It didn't make sense, but it did make her uncomfortable.

"H-hai," Hinata responded, unsure of what she was agreeing to.

When Shino arrived the mood dropped to an even lower depth, from gloomy to lugubrious. His face seemed to be even more swallowed today by that high collar of his. As expected Naruto's eyes, never once met Shino's as Kurenai led the team up the stairs to the Hokage's office.

Upon walking inside, Naruto's shoulders straightened up with respect for the wise Old man."Team eight reporting in." Kurenai said, standing behind her team. Her hands rested gently on both of her two males students' shoulders. An act of comfort for the two.

Naruto was first to notice his grandfather's perturbed expression, and based on the intertwinement of his fingers, he was either focused of angry. "Ojii-san, you seemed disturbed, is anything the matter?" He asked. Kurenai rose her brow, through her eyes the Hokage didn't seem in the least bit disturbed, maybe tired, but not disturbed.

Naruto could read him though, like a book. It made her realize how little she actually understood about the Hokage, other than the fact that his job was important. Naruto, however could tell, and mostly likely could replicate this. There was something else that made itself known to Kurenai's ear. Naruto's outrageously friendly tone with their village leader. It was true that one should have always engaged in badinage with those that they were close to, but to fraternize with the Hokage on such familiar terms....

Apparently the Hokage was fine with it. "No no, I'm fine Naruto, there's just something on my mind." Naruto eyed his mentor for carefully, and then folded his arms.

"Fine, but on my way here I saw something that has me in a ...disturbed state of mind" Sarutobi perked up at this; as he seldom heard of anything that was enough to disturb Naruto. Kurenai listened carefully, readying herself to analyze and interpret his next words.

"Well on my way here, and I'm sure Kurenai-sensei noticed this as well, but there were an unusual number of shops and stores closed down today, and almost all of them sported "closed for repairs" signs. I know that's not much to worry about but something else also struck me as odd. The village is in shambles! Overturned garbage cans, destroyed doors, broken windows, cracks, abnormally large gouges plunged into walls and even a crater. Can you tell me what happened?"

Sarutobi sighed, somehow, habitually, Naruto always managed to hit the nail on the head. "It's uncanny really, because what you just said bears a direct relation to my frustration. He paused for a moment to glance at Shino and Hinata. "Do they know?" He asked.

"Yes, they know about me." Naruto responded.

Sarutobi nodded. "The vibrant depredation that you saw back in the village was the work of one of Konoha's Kunoichi."

Naruto rose his eyebrow, simply astonished. "Kunoichi, which could Kunoichi in the village could possibly do that?" Kurenai watched the Hokage's lips attentively.

"Mitarashi Anko." Hinata flinched, literally feeling the small amount of anger seeping from her sensei as Kurenai tensed up a bit, and she would have stumbled forward but she barely managed to catch herself, settling for only a small step forward. Shino's reaction was similar to Hinata's, a small shifting in body posture rather than a full step.

Naruto noted it as well, she could tell by the narrowed glance that he gave her. It brought up one question, did Kurenai like this Anko person? "Hokage-sama, please tell me what is was that she did." Kurenai said, her usually compassionate tone tainted with venom.

Scratching his head Sarutobi chuckled, it was a dry one. "Unfortunately that is as far as I can tell you, well at least while you're here with your team. Come back later after your mission and I will give you the details on it." Kurenai droned, more like growled, before finally sighing.

"We still have a few D-rank missions left." Kurenai inclined her head respectfully as the old man shuffled through a stack of papers on his desk. "There we are," he said, pulling one out and handing one to Kurenai. "I need you to report to herbalist Sunohara in the eastern district near the river. He suffered an injury last week while working on his roof and needs some help."

Kurenai led her students down to the exit, trying not to show her frustrations while at the same time restraining her laughter at the confused look on Hinata's face that somewhat echoed on Shino's. "D-rank missions," she explained to Shino and Hinata, "are considered to be little or no threat at all, and should rarely, if ever involve traveling outside of Konoha. In order to give you an opportunity to practice working together, these D-rank missions will become a regular."

As they hit the streets below, Kurenai stopped, allowing her two students to digest this. Hinata looked apprehensive, but soon sunk back into her shell. For the most part they walked through the streets without sound, not that there was anyone inclined to strike up a conversation at the time. Kurenai held to her thoughts the entire time, and while they made their way to the eastern district, her mind raced with frustration and anger every time she saw one of the many plunders caused by Anko. When they knocked on the door, a voice came to meet them, telling them to come around to the back.

They walked around to a back patio, near it, a verdant field of weeds as tall trees.

Herbalist Sunohara proved to be a middle aged and unmarried, blond, lazy-looking man with a plaster neck brace firmly holding his neck in place, with the accompaniment of a cast on his right arm. He did something similar to a double take when he saw Naruto but let his action go unaccompanied. Hinata made a note of that, people had been doing that a lot ever since they left the tower.

Their instructions were simple, help repair the roof and burn the jungle in the back yard. The teams were simple as well, Kurenai with Shino on the roof, and Hinata and Naruto in the weed jungle. (Hm, weed jungle...not a bad idea if you know what I'm talking about) Kurenai made sure that before she sent them off, she pulled Hinata to the side, whispering in her ear, "I want you to speak."

"B-But I don't understand you, Kurenai-sensei." Kurenai's only response was to look at her sternly before pointing at Naruto while he wasn't looking. After that, Kurenai shoved Hinata forth in Naruto's direction which lead the both of them to the base of the jungle. A mild blush staining her face pink.

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Speak, Speak! She was supposed to speak to him? How. Was. That. Possible?

She really didn't know, she was so close to yet so far from the answer. Her and Naruto were given two hoes to get rid of the weeds, and two large bags to carry the weeds, almost immediately she got the feeling that they'd be needing more bags.

They stared at the base of the long towering weeds, they jutted forth from the ground, coming up to their thighs. With her hoe in one hand she glanced at Naruto, secretly of course, and felt herself flush.

His voice come next. "If we split up, we can cover more ground so you should start over there," his hand directed her eyes toward a flaring path of weeds some yards away. "Don't you think?" He said.

Tucking the hoe between her arm and ribcage, Hinata pressed her fingers together. She was pressing so hard that the skin turned white. "U-uh...um, y-yes, we could. b-but don't you think that w-we could do a better job if we... covered... it...i-in the same spot?" She asked, the reality of what Kurenai had asked of her hit her like time bomb, but she followed the instruction nonetheless. Naruto took a moment to digest this.

"Well, it makes sense, if one of us misses something, there other might spot it. Well then I guess I should go for content over size in this case." He said giving her a weak smile, she smiled back but it was barely noticeable.

Prior to exchanged smiles they found themselves working on the left side of the yard, ripping weeds from the ground and stuffing them into over sized bags.

Hinata steeled herself, she could do this, she would do this. She would _speak _with Naruto.

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Truth be told, Anko was showing about all the signs of genuine amnesia, no recollection of past actions, an altered state of mind, anxiety, confusion, everything. He was beginning to think that she really didn't remember what she did. If she didn't, he knew that everyone else _did._

Beside him, the Hokage sat quietly, no so much as uttering a word. He gave the man a quick glance before his eyes parted and returned to Anko, who's flummoxed expression further enhanced the possibility of her amnesia.

He could work her down, truly he could work anyone down given sometime, but as of now breaking Anko seemed to be... impossible, even for him. It was scary. Maybe his skills were dulling, maybe she was just that mentally fortified, whichever the case may be, it was unnerving to say the least. And he never lost his nerve.

Anko was proving to be either one of the best liars he'd ever met or that she really was suffering from amnesia. If it was in fact, the latter and she _didn't _remember than his best diagnosis considering all that she told him would be that she was suffering from Lacunar amnesia. As he peppered her with mind destroying questions, threats, and explanations, Anko held still and did not falter, despite her injury. Although considering the fact that she had injuries, he could file her amnesia as post-traumatic.

"Anko so you're telling me that you don't remember anything?" Ibiki asked calmly.

Anko's usually edge filled voice wasn't filled with a drop of hostility, rather she spoke in calm, depressed segments. Gone was the former brio from her personality, replaced with it, a gloomy spirit. Maybe...

He shook the idea out of his head, she wasn't lying he could tell, but still he needed to take the necessary precautions. She would need to be tested, and if it came down to the worst, tortured. Physical torture would be his only option, seeing as how he wasn't getting anywhere with her mentally.

The delayed period that Anko to in order to attempt to answer his question only evoked his suspicions that she was telling the truth. Either that or she was a hell of an actor, who knew. After all she was Mitarashi Anko, the second Hebi fang, the Kunoichi rumored to be so deceptively clever that she was revered for it. Curtailed, Anko's mastery in the Arts of Deception had made her famous; although infamous was the better word. If her reputation were even ineffable.

Ibiki was a sagacious person, and his judgment alone told him that while Anko may not have been the most scrupulous of Nin, she certainly was loyal. She was one of the most loyal. He knew it, there was something here hidden that nobody else knew about. Maybe this next question would clear things up.

"Anko, you're no longer a Jonin, you have no rights, you aren't in any position to say anything beyond what we ask you. Now tell me, what _can_ you remember, and answer me truthfully. What you say may decide whether or not you are allowed to stay in this hospital or for that matter even in this village." Anko's response was normal.

A gasp.

Slowly she began, "There was a man, he was posing as an Anbu," her mind allowed her to recall the memory vividly. "He wore a cloak, brown or black... I think," the memory faded, leaving Anko to shift through her mind for the correct image. Then it came back, brighter than ever. "It was black, d-definitely black, oh, and he was wearing a white dog mask, no symbol, no kanji, it was blank...a-and..."

Ibiki leaned in, mirroring him was the Hokage. The two exchanged glances and in the moment, they both exchanged one silent word.

Oto.

Anko's voice brought them back. "H-he was good at Genjutsu as well, the one he used on me was too fast acting to not be high-level. Everything went white after that, and then I woke up here. B-but please, that's all I know, t-tell me something now. I-" The Hokage's disapproval of her request came in a sharp burst of potent Ki that quickly, if not instantly shut her up. Although she wasted no time starting back up."H-Hokage-sama, please allow me to see my students, please?" Anko's beseeching was in vain.

"Absolutely not." It was a simple denial, a little blunt, but it conveyed the message. "Like we said before, you have no rights. And you will definitely not be able to see your _former_ students, I doubt that your students wouldn't even want to see you after what you did to them." His tone was grim.

"What did I do?" Anko, practically yelled but the Hokage's hand silenced her.

"Please, do not bother me with any more of your questions. Things are simple now, whether or not you are aware of it or not, you are a threat to your pupils. You were given the tutelary position of being a Jonin sensei... and you failed. You failed me, you failed yourself and worst of all you failed your students. I'm leaving now." He said simply, leaving Anko with an unhinged jaw. She realized that he was right, regardless of the circumstances, she failed, horribly.

Sarutobi stood up and walked toward the door, once he reached it he took a small step back. "Oh we were just leaving, come Ibiki, the doctor wishes to treat Anko. We will be back, after you are treated Anko, you'll be going to see Youhei." After a quick stare Ibiki got up and followed the Hokage out the room. Their exit allowed for a mid-sized white haired boy wearing transparent glasses to walk inside, draped over his shoulders a log white lab coat. In his right hand he held a pen and a clip board, in the other he held a small syringe, inside the liquid holding chamber deep purple liquid. From the angle he held it at the liquid seemed to glow.

Behind the doctor the door closed. "Hello, Mitarashi-san, I'm Dr. Yakushi Kabuto and I'm glad that you are feeling well. You gave us quite the scare there, but you're pretty stable now, I suggest that you don't try to do anything for a couple of days, let us do it for you okay?" His voice was friendly, disarming, soothing. Anko thought him to be too young to even be a doctor. Through her anxiety, Anko felt herself slowing agreeing with his words though. She did need to relax, but how could she?

"P-Please, Doctor are my students here?" The boy raised his eyebrow.

"Students?"

"Sanae and Konoe Fumina, are they here, please tell me no!" Anko said. The last thing that she wanted to was for her to harbor a guilty conscience because of an albatross that she most likely would not forget. "Dr. Yakushi" shuffled through some papers pinned to his clipboard, going through them in a matter of seconds. The look on his face was depressing. "Unfortunately," Anko mentally cringed, "They are here. And they're in critical condition."

"No, b-but, h-how, how could I have..." Anko felt the need to yell out in agony.

On the inside Kabuto was smiling, giving himself clandestine praise for using such an ingenious plan. Originally his plan was to abduct Anko and experiment on her. You see, not only was his job as a double agent in Konoha to observe Sasuke Uchiha but it was also to test a new virus developed by Lord Orochimaru. The virus, made from the venom that the Lord himself secreted when administering the "curse seal", was altered in hopes of enhancing the effects of the curse seal whenever it was already present on a person. And evidently, Anko was the only one with the curse mark...yet, so she was the _only_ test subject. He had to give himself credit though.

Back on the training ground, he opted not to abduct her and experiment on her, instead he injected her with an intravenous drug that the Lord created, it was designed to throw off a person emotional balance, enraging them. That person was irritable to everything, and that person just so happened to be Anko. If he heard his rumors correctly, the drug worked out superbly. After her wild rampage, all Kabuto had to do was wait for her to get hurt and sent to the hospital, where he could experiment on her without suspicion.

He allowed his self-praise end with a hand that he rested on her shoulder, after setting the needle down of course. That needle was important, that needle was the Chimer Virus, or the Cv virus.

"Don't worry Mitarashi-san, they'll be alright. But for now, I need you to relax.... I have to give you an injection.

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"Hey Hinata-san, do you think that I went a little overboard on Shino?" Hinata's head flicked up, caught off guard by Naruto's sudden question. She was supposed to be the one doing the talking yet it seemed that he was the one more eager. Instinctively, she looked behind her. On the roof, Kurenai was staring directly at her, a small curl tugging her lips upward. She should have known. It sometimes surprised her how helpful Kurenai could be, whether or not she knew it or not.

A mild blush tinged her cheeks and Naruto's eyes hadn't moved from her face. A tight ball formed in the pit of her stomach, causing her to drop her hoe. It hit the grass with a muffled rustle.

"Oh, the weeds," he looked around, surveying the area and his hands moved into a single hand seal. He didn't say a word, just one seal and two clones walked out from behind him. Naruto handed one his hoe and bag and reached down, doing the same with Hinata's equipment. He must have given them some sort of silent command because she never heard him utter a word in between the period when he created and sent away the clones.

She just stood there, timidly toeing the ground for the sole reason that they were now alone.

"So what do you think," he sat down in a patch of grass where they had already cut away. She mirrored him, feeling the sudden need to go with the flow.

Her heart pound loudly, reaching her ears, blocking out everything else. They were alone, together! She was happy, yes, but at the same time, her conscience was being ripped apart by her own nervousness. "W-well, M-maybe, you were a l-little to hard on him. A-after all h-he was just a little curious."

The weight of his gaze fell down her with the avoirdupois of a bolder. "Maybe, but what was I suppose to do?" He threw his hands in the air, a gesture that she wasn't used to seeing from him, genuine confusion.

It was unfortunate, especially for her. Now he thought that she was on Shino's side, which was the last thing she wanted him to think... at least she thought so. This was confusing. In her defense, she threw her hands in a noticeably defensive gesture.

"G-gomen, I didn't mean it like t-that at all, N-Naruto-san, I just..." She paused to think of what to say. Nothing came to mind. Naruto raised his brow, he really could not see what Kurenai-sensei was planning when she told him to ask Hinata her opinion. He knew of her... infatuation with him, but infatuation wasn't the right word, in retrospect--considering all the times he'd spotted her following him recently-- it was more of an unhealthy obsession. But still...

"Maybe, I was a little too hard. But honestly, I don't really understand that concept."

Hinata frowned, something somewhat short of scowl. "I-I don't think I understand what you mean Naruto-san." Naruto searched for the words and they came easily.

"Well Hinata, can I ask you something? I don't really understand this word, so could you explain to me what "teammate" is?" Again his baby blue pupils branded their image into her skin, the simple task of looking into his eyes suddenly became a few notches harder. Still she found the courage to do it.

"W-well-"

Naruto placed his hand, touching her shoulder gently. He felt the rise and fall of her shoulders when she gasped. "Please, answer honestly." If Hinata's words were to hold some veracity then they would only do so if they come directly from the place where she treasured the most, the place were most humans treasured the most; the heart. The one place that Naruto had the most difficulty understanding.

Hinata nodded, but she did it slowly, never to take her eyes away from him. "W-well to me, a teammate is..."

Naruto leaned in. She found that she could withhold nothing from him and spilled out everything.

"... a teammate, well...a teammate is.... a friend." Naruto's eyes widened with that last word. "A person w-who will support you, whenever and wherever, s-someone you can come to a-anytime, you know... someone you can...trust with anything." Hinata wasn't aware that she was pressing her fingers together again, a die-hard habit that she did whenever she was nervous. Currently she was priding herself with the fact that she hadn't fainted yet, but she knew that the moment was ephemeral, any second now her confidence would falter and she would be out like a light.

But while her confidence lasted she added, "Y-you know like h-how you and the Fumina sisters are." It must have come out in a bad way because the look Naruto gave her reflected the effect of her words.

"Sanae and Konoe, we're like... what?" He asked.

"Y-You know, how you guys are... always together" she muttered with her voice dropping to a low murmur. The steady sound of Naruto's clones hacking away at useless plant life filled the air for a moment. "The moment", really, was awkward.

"So they're my friends?"

"W-well, aren't they?"

"I... don't know. Maybe...-" One of Naruto's clones scuffled by, giving a polite 'excuse me' as he went past. Based from his observations, Naruto's own relationship with the Fumina sisters, at least empirically matched those relationships in which he'd seen in other parts of the village. It was safe to say that he, Konoe and Sanae, were friends. But then there were things that they did that could be considered slightly _above_ the friend level. Maybe calling them 'best friends' was more accurate. He knew that people who were just friends didn't continuously engage in puerile groping marked as "revenge" by one or the other.

So then maybe the Fuminas were his _best friends_.

If so, what were Hinata and Shino to him? Comrades... teammates, but what did those words mean exactly? Hinata's explanation had sent his mind for a wild ride of introspective thought, in which the answer slowly, but surely revealed itself to him.

Comrades, teammates.... friends. They were his friends, at least they would have been.

"N-Naruto-san?"

"Huh! Wha-... uhh, yeah. T-they're my friends, you're right." He said lamely. "But what about Shino?" Naruto couldn't believe that he was acting like this; so childish he was and even more so, helpless.

To his surprise, Hinata giggled-- it was a very soft giggle, one that reminded him of Konoe's. Somehow, it was different, gentler, and trustworthy, not that Konoe's wasn't. He could surmise now that he could trust her, hopefully. Hinata's eyes were closed, her hand to her mouth as she laughed. Naruto didn't react, there was nothing funny really that he could discern, so he just looked. A blade of grass landed on his head as his second clone moved past, knocking him in the back of the head with his elbow. The clone never even got five feet away before a shuriken passed through its head, causing it to erupt out of existence.

The distinctive sound of the dissipating clone opened Hinata's eyes. "Naruto-san," she said, "O-Of course y-you're still friends."

"And you?" He asked, Hinata fell silent. Truly "friends" was not where she wanted to be, she wanted more than that. And for some reason she had the strangest feeling that Naruto knew it as well, it would explain the awkward feeling in the bottom of her stomach.

"O-Of course, we're fr-friends." She responded, her eyes drifting away, surprisingly, for the first time since she they began the topic. Naruto smiled, Hinata's red-faced expression reminded him of Sanae's whenever he would exact on her his "revenge." Slowly but surely he was realizing, that he was beginning to see a little of his two "best friends" inside of the girl shrinking in front of him. But that did NOT mean that she was his _best_ friend, just a friend, a new one at that. But that left one more person.

Hinata turned even further away, like she had been slapped in the face. He was not so confused that he couldn't interpret the meaning of her reaction; the simple hiding of a blush.

Teammates, were friends, friends were teammates. They were much more than tools, he was beginning to realize partially, that they were also a means of emotional support. If that was there sole and primary function then Naruto really didn't see any use for friends. But, he had to admit, it felt good to have one around.

"Thanks. I think I understand now, at least a little bit. ... I'm glad... that we're teammates." Hinata still didn't look at him, her face looked too much like a tomato to do something like that.

He was glad! Naruto was glad to have _her_ as a teammate! Pointing toward the single clone of Naruto's still removing weeds, she said "A-ano, I think w-we should get back to work." Allowing his eyes to follow the direction of her finger, Naruto nodded in agreement.

"Uh...yeah."

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The room was spinning, or maybe that was her head spinning. It must have been her head, considering that she couldn't see anything.

Sanae's eyes cracked open to find the pale light of a hand applying medicinal chakra to her abdomen. She remembered it clearly, she remembered everything clearly.

That time when Anko-sensei wasn't... herself. She was possessed. By whom... she couldn't place the name... Oro...chi...maru?

The white rain of feathers had ceased, along with it the somnolent sensation that had numbed her senses. Anko was already awake before She and Konoe were awake. She wore this crazed expression, angry yet... tortured. It was unsettling.

After that there were no more taijutsu drills. Just running, a whole lot of running.

For the average human, the tongue was only supposed to stretch out only couple of inches past the lips. That didn't explain why Anko-sensei was literally able to lick the bottom hem of her trench coat with that freakishly long tongue of hers, it didn't explain why her sister was almost impaled by the slimy appendage as well.

She attempted to move her right arm, to her dismay, it moved about an inch. Her left arm however, exactly where that black viper had bitten her, budged not a millimeter. It was probably still feeling the effects of the poison.

White bandages wrapped themselves around her head and body, her left leg was suspended two feet in the air by a sling, the bandages were stained black with dried blood. If she remembered clearly, she'd broken that leg. Actually it was the viper that had broken it.

Air scraped against her throat with every breath, painfully drawing out agonizing sensations of rusty metal tearing up her insides. The hand moved from her abdomen to her chest, the pulsating pain was almost immediately replaced with the warm sensation of medical energy, soothing. She would have sighed if she could, unfortunately, breathing already took enough out of her, sighing was like mission impossible.

There was one thing though that kept popping up, despite her minds attempt to destroy it. One strikingly disturbing image that had branded itself into her memory. Anko's eyes, those eyes were freaky beyond all meaning of the word. She remembered how creepy Anko's eyes looked, golden, slitted, feral, reptilian. Like a snake's eye. She was scared shit-less, terrified beyond all rational thought, fortunately rational thought wasn't what she needed. Rational thought would have stopped her from pushing Konoe out of the way and taking the icy-hot fangs of the black viper, going by the name of Mandria.

That poison...

It'd hurt so much. Hopefully her sister was fine, she remembered immediately passing out after that. When the hand left the fore of her chest, the pain slowly faded back to reality. She reluctantly accepted it and slipped back to sleep, despite the fiery pain burning up her arm.

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Sunohara proved to be modest, at best, or at least he gave that impression. Surprisingly, he actually shook Naruto's hand when they were finished. He unlike most of the villagers could actually look past the fact of what Naruto was and bring himself to thank the boy. As sad as the reality was, it was still the truth, but that wasn't she was most concerned about at the moment. As she had planned, Hinata and Naruto_ did_ talk, and it _did_ have some affect on the boy, perhaps too much of an affect though.

On the walk back from the eastern district, Naruto had been retracted in his own little world. This was something that the Hokage made a note of, only when Shino and Hinata had exited the building and returned home.

"Naruto-kun," he said, raising a grey brow, "Is something the matter?" For a moment his eyes met Kurenai's, she gave him a wink. For some reason he could tell that she had something to do with it.

"N-Nothing Ojii-san, I was just thinking about something. More importantly, can you tell me exactly what happened in town?"

The scowl on Sarutobi Hiruzen's face was prominent.

"Yes... that, well apparently, Anko... went on a rampage trying to... kill her two students and-..."

Neither Kurenai nor Sarutobi could stop Naruto, Kurenai couldn't even see him leave for that matter. Apparently, he'd mastered the arts of spontaneous dematerialization that almost every Anbu possessed a knowledge of.

"Oh dear," Sarutobi said.

"What do you think he'll do?" Kurenai asked, her tone a tad apprehensive.

"Knowing him, it'll probably, if not definitely involve him paying Anko a visit." Kurenai grimaced.

This would not be good.

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Naruto was already out the window the instant the Hokage mentioned Sanae and Konoe. He knew of Mitarashi Anko's methods, he knew how extreme she could be, but never once would he have thought that she would actually attempt to kill someone from this village in cold blood, especially not her own students. It angered him.

He crossed the distance from the Hokage's tower to the hospital in less then three minutes, pouring every drop of chakra that he had into his steps. To the villagers he looked much like a blur whizzing past their vision, to other shinobi... he looked much like a blur whizzing past their vision. Nothing else could be said, the boy was fast.

The blur that was his body burst through the front doors of the hospital, it only stopped when it reached the front receptionist desk.

Ignoring the rage and worry the riddled his mind, Naruto mustered up enough discernible speech to make out a sentence. "Please, I need to see Sanae and Konoe Fumina, and Mitarashi Anko!" The dark-haired, receptionist with boring brown eyes manning the front desk looked at him with with skeptical eyes, eyes that he didn't have time for. She didn't even look surprised at the speed in which he approached her. "Come on!" The top of her lip curled with the disgust; as her name tag read, Ise rolled her eyes at him.

"Listen kid," she paused to pop her gum, "I don't know what you're try-"

She stopped when Naruto slammed his hands on the counter, deep cracks ran along the marble. His normally calm baby blue eyes had lost all equanimity. Her nerve to say whatever it was that she was going to say to this blond boy had been thoroughly stripped from her, leaving her mind naked and exposed. Naruto could see the fear in her eyes, his killing intent often did that to people. "Listen, Ise," Naruto began, taking a glance at her name tag once more, "I need you to tell me what I need to now right now. I'm warning you not to pull any smart shit with me, or else! Now what are their room numbers?"

Her fingers pounded the keyboard, sparking a clamorous staccato of clicks. "R-right, uh...F-fumina, uh....room 120 and 122 in the south ward. But they're in critical condition!" She glanced back at the computer and typed frantically, "M-mitarashi Anko's in the central ward, room 206!" And like that, Naruto's rage was gone, at least it was hidden. With a smile he patted the unruly receptionist's head and dashed off. He could barely hear her calls out to him, telling him not to go toward Anko's room, apparently everyone knew of her little rampage.

He turned the corner, that's when it hit him.

_'Shit! The south ward and central ward are two different ways, I want to see Sanae and Konoe but I must see Anko...now. Sorry girls, but I need to see her first.'_

"Kage bunshin no jutsu!" He didn't make any hand seals, he didn't need to make them anyway, such tautological things only wasted his time. Two clones appeared behind them, it didn't take them long to receive the silent message and they both veered off at another corner, following the sign that said 'south ward'. As for him, he already knew where Anko's room was, he'd already been there before, that was the same room Shino had been in.

Shino... his teammate.

The glossy white tiles of the polished floors and ceilings passed by him in the form of one steady stream of white, he was running so quickly that he could no longer discern single tiles, just conjoined, blurred images of many.

Not long after, his foot screeched along the floor. He was there, room 206, such unwanted nostalgia gripped him.

But he quickly cast it aside, preparing himself for the_ long_ conversation he would have with Anko.

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Once again she was back in the hospital, but she could not complain, compared to her sister, she had gotten off lucky. Sanae, pretty much saved her life, taking a bite from that black viper. Her right arm was rendered useless, after it had taken her sister out, she carried her all the way the to the hospital where it had taken a bite out of her as well. The last thing she remembered after getting bit and before passing out were the many white flashes of Anbu masks, well that and her own agonizing screams of pain. Her arm burned with the aftermath of that thing's venom.

One thing that Konoe could do that her sister could not do was talk, her body wasn't as damaged.

The door to her dimly lit hospital room clicked open, letting in a steady stream of incandescent light that stung her eyes.

"Konoe-chan. It's me Naruto."

Naruto's voice was shaky, that was unusual for him.

The next thing she noticed was his face, rather his eyes, they were wet with moisture. Quickly he wiped the moisture away before it technically became a tear; honestly he was too worried about this friend stuff, even as a clone he felt the panic and turmoil radiating from his creator, he couldn't help but imitate it.

"N-Naruto, are you crying?" Her voice was scratchy like crumpled paper. The clone shook his head, placing a hand on her forehead. Her blush was florid.

"Konoe-chan, I'm not the real Naruto,"

"What?"

"I'm a clone."

"Oh," Konoe said. While it touched her that he wanted to see her, it also pissed her off that he sent a clone to see her.

"Naruto, the real Naruto wants me to ask you something. He wants you to tell me everything that happened between you, Sanae, and Anko. Everything, another clone is with your sister doing the same thing as well." He said in a stark monotone that was completely contradicting with his previous tone. It was like in one instant he switched from a worried close friend to a stolid computer.

Konoe closed her eyes, shaking her head. "N-no I don't want to. I don't want to remember." She whispered. As if on cue the clone switched back to friend mode, kneeling beside her so that they were on eye level, he took her hands into his. Her skin was soft, despite the scars. Normally he would have blushed, but the original Naruto didn't quite seem to feel that way about Konoe so he refrained from doing such things.

"I'm here, don't worry all you need to do is be strong for me, hold my-" The clone stopped mid-sentence to grunt, his eyes growing wide. Air scraped against his throat and he realized that he was screaming. He dropped to his knees, screaming long and hard but he still clutched Konoe's hand. His free hand moved in front of him, he could feel his palm burning. When he looked at it he gasped.

_'Blood?' _He thought to himself. What could the original Naruto possibly be doing that caused him to bleed? He grimaced; it was too bad that the whole shadow clone information transfer didn't work both ways, the boss couldn't poof away and send him important information like just what the hell was happening. His time was almost up, so quickly he climbed back to Konoe's side. "I'm s-sorry, I've got to go!" He yelled out his last words with an emotion that could only be described as pain and then without warning... every pore in his body erupted with white smoke.

And like that, he was gone, the only remnants his existence being the dissipating tendrils of white smoke fading away.

"N-naruto, Naruto?" Konoe's hand passed right through the smoke swirling around her good hand, "What's going on?"

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The snake's skin was hard and scaly against the palms of his hand. The dark brown constrictor that he held in his hands wriggled in his hands in attempt to free itself. It hissed angrily, locking its reptilian glare onto to Naruto. It opened its mouth, exposing rows of teeth that were curved inward. Eunectes Pressi, otherwise known as the Sorrel Anaconda, a rare species of--believe it or not-- over sized Anaconda only found and rarely seen in the deepest corners of the Forest of Death. (It's a fake species I made up on the spot.)

One thing that Naruto had deduced was that if he had not reacted in time to stop this bad boy, it would have surely taken a nasty bite out of his arm.

Not that simply holding the thing wasn't doing damage to his hands right now. Its muddy brown scales tore away the skin of his palms, leaving them bloody and raw. It felt like there were a thousand tiny kunai blades scraping away at his skin and while he wasn't bothered by it, the giant forty footer was putting up a fight for its life. Its body was so large and lanky that the thick percentage of it that wasn't already clutched in Naruto's hands coiled itself around the room, sliding around counters, twisting underneath the bed, touching the ceiling.

Still his hands gripped its airway tightly, its loud hisses being the only thing distracting him from Anko's loud chuckling. Naruto clenched his teeth.

The instant he had walked in, he could immediately tell that Anko definitely was not feeling herself at all. Prior to this vicious attack, she seemed fairly normal, shaken up about something but normal. The instant he asked her to explain her behavior, she exploded in a metaphorical sense of the word. It was actually the snake that exploded forth from her arm, and he watched as it curled around her and slithered around the rest of the room.

Next thing he knew, his hands were being torn to shreds by the thing's diamond-tough scales! And what was even worse was that his sudden parry threw off his concentration and he failed to maintain his two clones tending to Sanae and Konoe, his two friends. He blinked rapidly as he received the chopped up and segmented flashes of mental images and information left off by his two clones. As he recalled, Sanae couldn't speak, but she was crying and Konoe, while she could speak... was crying as well. It saddened him to see them like that, but that would not stop him from getting rid of this snake.

Anko shrieked, chanting the same incoherent mantra she'd been chanting since she attacked.

"Ororororororororo!"

"Shit! Anko, what are you?" He got his answer when the anaconda, using its leviathan body length, whipped its head, slamming Naruto _through _the wall of the hospital. The debris hit the ground before he did, so he landed on a pile of white powdery rubble that softened his landing. He rubbed his head, groaning, that one really hurt. Hopefully getting rid of this thing wouldn't be too much of a hassle, but man was it troublesome.

As he stood, a high pitched squeal next to him sent a shudder down his spine.

"Oh...N-naruto, its you...uh...what are you-"

"Not now Ino, I'm in the middle of something." He turned to the blond girl, strangely she began to follow him since that time he...uh turned her on. Frankly it was creepy, and by far surpassed Hinata's fan-girlish tendencies; Naruto knew one thing, if there was something worst than a girl who acted like a fan girl it was a fan girl who acted like a fan girl.

He turned his attention away from her florid blush, just in time to spot the giant tendril of brown heading for him. "Ino move!" He jumped back, shoving Ino away just fast enough avoid the hundreds of deadly daggers that dug into the ground in front of him. A chilling thought then occurred to him, that could have been his skin in that snake's mouth. His weird desire to have a piece of steel in his hand left him when he pulled out two kunai and jammed one inside of the snakes eyes. It sank quickly, flowing through its eyes like it would through water, filling the air with a loud, wet squish, not to mention the smell of fresh blood. After a loud hiss it reared its head back and struck again. This thing may not have been poisonous but it still had a mean bite!

Naruto cleanly moved to the side, feeling its rough hide scrape his side. Naruto didn't waste anytime with the snake though, that wasn't his target, Anko was and as of now she was running down her pet's hide, her hand making a single hand sign as she cried out.

"Orororororo! Fuuton: Daitoppa!" Wildly, she swung her arm like a pendulum gone astray. If Naruto weren't so well read he wouldn't have known to dodge the thin, invisible blade of wind that cut a few of his hairs.

He twisted and launched himself onto the volatile body of the Anaconda, charging for Anko. They met right around the middle, where its body was stretched down from the hospital room to the ground below like a scaly diagonal walkway. Anko's knee came fast and hard, but Naruto parried, bashing it to the side with his closed fist and tunneled his punch into her chest. She was thrown back but regained her footing when she flipped around and landed on all fours in the most feral of stances.

"Orororororo! Her body....ororor... too weak!" Anko trilled, Naruto raised his brow. Her body? What? He didn't need to think about that, he just needed to fight.

"Naruto, what's going on!" Ino screeched from below the ground, her along with most of the villagers kept their distance. One moment, she was walking along the street, enjoying t\her day off from training and the next thing she knew, the hospital seemed to literally explode one side, Naruto being right in the middle of the blast. And now, he was fighting a giant snake and some weird lady?

Naruto ignored them and charged. Anko didn't move, rather she released from her mouth a stream of sound frighteningly reminiscent to that of her snake's hiss and just as he approached her, the forty foot monster decided that it was time to move.

It coiled its body randomly, twisting and looping wildly thus throwing Naruto off balance. He applied chakra and stuck like glue, but something was wrong... he was now upside down!

"Die!" Anko screamed as she charged him, launching herself in the air. He did the same, crouching before shooting himself down at his opponent. They passed each other for a split second, the clang of kunai clashing ripped through the air. Naruto flipped forward, and found himself on another portion of the anaconda's body, the anaconda itself now apparently becoming some sort of bizarre maze for him to navigate. That would be a pain, fighting with Anko while trying not to get himself crushed.

Anko looked down at him... with golden, slitted, feral eyes. Eyes that matched her snake's.

_HISSSS_

The anaconda wriggled again, twisting itself head so that it faced Naruto and struck with lightning speed. Naruto was already out of the way by the time it was there, jumping up and literally sticking to the moving portion of snake above him. Anko's fist crashed into his face suddenly, knocking him off and down toward the open mouth of the hungry anaconda. It hissed with hungry, slimy transparent saliva dripping from the dank cave that was its mouth. From that height Naruto could smell its foul breath rushing past his face, burning his eyes. Raw meat and blood.

Naruto prepared his hands signs, he didn't say any words, he just breathed in, launching forth a blazing ball of fire into the thing's already fervid maw. He learned something at that moment: snakes didn't like to be set on fire, especially not from the inside out. Though its loud roars of pain weren't his main concern right now.

Two snakes, brown spotted vipers to be exact, lashed out of Anko's sleeves and dug their curved fangs, poisonous fangs, into the exposed skin around of his ankles. He grunted feeling the hot sting of mild poison enter his system. He'd planned on taking things slow but now that idea was in the trash bin, he'd been poisoned and he needed to finish this quickly.

"Ororororo!" Anko yelled as she jerked her snakes back pulling Naruto with her. She obviously did not know how unpredictable Naruto was. The cunning young boy actually pulled on the vipers, still attached to his legs and her arms, bringing her down toward him. The next thing she knew, he'd grabbed hold of her head and bashed his knee into her face, his elbow came next, then other one. What followed that was a nearly invisible flurry of punches pounding away at her body. His fists sank deeply into her skin , easily, as if she were made of some impact absorbing substance like clay. Meanwhile, the anaconda was too distracted to noticed its master's pain, it soon toppled over and fell unconscious.

He didn't want to do this but he had to, this was travail that he'd put himself into. He grabbed Anko's collar, bringing her closer to him.

"What are you?" He spat, his eyes ruled by anger. Naruto waited until they hit the ground, a few feet away from the snake's head, before he looked directly into her eyes... and cocked his arm back, it flared wildly with blue chakra. What he saw nearly caused him to drop her.

One eye wasn't golden anymore, it had reverted back to the normal grey-teal that was Anko's original eye color... and it was crying. A steady flow of tears flowed from that eye, Anko's eye.

The skin around his eyes tightened as he narrowed them and after little to no contemplation he changed his question, "_Who_ are you?" He asked. The tear filled eye blinked a couple of times and Anko sniffled.

"Oro-,"she said in her sweet feminine voice, but much to his surprise, that voice was overtaken by another voice, a man's voice. "-chimaru!" Naruto gasped. Had he heard right? Was Anko speaking with what was presumably Orochimaru's voice? Orochimaru or Anko laughed, "It seems that this child is fighting my mind back. Poor Anko wants her body back, pathetic!" He cackled.

"Orochimaru, you sick twisted man! What did you do to her?" Naruto practically yelled his words for all to hear.

"In time, boy, in time. My plan has already been executed so I have no further use for this body. I shall be taking my leave now." With one final bout of laughter, Anko's other eye faded back to its original state, the golden color seeping away like paint washed away from a wall. Anko fell limp.

"No, you bastard, come back here! What do you want?" Naruto yelled in rage but it proved to be in vain, Anko was unconscious and Orochimaru was gone. The day before Anko went on a rampage, and now Naruto knew... back then, that was NOT Anko.

"Naruto don't do it!" Kurenai's voice said from afar. He hadn't noticed before but his arm was still cocked back. A moment later she was right next to him, panting heavily. She looked around, her mouth agape.

"S-so its true, Anko really did do all that damage yesterday." Kurenai's eyes pinned themselves toward the ground.

"That wasn't Anko Kurenai-sensei... it was Orochimaru, the epicenter of this entire ordeal." Kurenai gasped and she felt her anger begin to fray but she fought it down, swallowing the growing lump of emotion in her chest. Well the mystery of Anko's wild rampage had been solved, partially anyway.

The villagers began to file around again, all of them looking with curious eyes at the remains of the spectacular battle that had just occurred before their eyes.

"Kurenai-sensei, take Anko back inside the hospital-" he handed Kurenai the battered remains of the once revered kunoichi and looked away. "-I've got to take care of this snake here," he thrust his thumb back at the still unconscious reptile behind them.

Four presences made themselves known behind Naruto. On instinct, Kurenai took a step back, Naruto didn't move at all.

"Taichou, you're late. I've already neutralized Anko and her pet here. I've got some information here that everyone needs to know, Kurenai when you dropped Anko off meet us back at the Hokage's tower."

Saito's voice came with that same static known only to come through Anbu masks. "You did well."

"I know,"

"Ok... I'll be going now." Kurenai said as she slipped away from the Naruto and his team. Honestly, the aura those guys gave off, even Naruto himself seemed a bit more... intense. It was nerve racking.

In the distance, Ino, who had yet to leave... watched with wide eyes. "Naruto... what's he doing with those Anbu and did he just call that guy captain?"

"Now we've got to-" He stopped when the giant previously unconscious snake opened its one eye with an audible click. It hissed, exposing a glimpse of a badly charred tongue, wearily the thing reared its head up and opened its mouth. The insides of its mouth were just as charred as its tongue; black smoldering skin hung from the walls of its mouth, its breath had even gotten a whole deal stinkier. Burnt meat and warm blood.

"Looks like we've got company." Sakai said, no doubt smirking behind that lion mask of his while he cracked his knuckles. Naruto's Ki washed over him, the smirk was almost instantly gone. "Jeez, if you wanted the thing for yourself you should have said so." Sakai grumbled.

What a big baby.

Naruto walked past his team, parting his teammates like a ninja Moses.

_HISSSSSSS_

That would be its last hiss in its life. If Naruto couldn't take his anger out on Orochimaru he would definitely take it out on the guy's snake. The snake barred its rows of blackened teeth and slithered at Naruto with the speed of a shinobi.

"Guys, you're about to see one of my favorite techniques." Naruto said as he crouched low, bringing back one hand behind him. Blue chakra surrounded his hand, swirling like fire in his palm. As the snake approached him, everything slowed, and Naruto could see clearly. This attack would be going right into its mouth.

"Ninpou: Choubatsu!" As the anaconda readied to clamp its jaws on Naruto's entire body, Naruto thrust his hand forward, sending a wave of unseen energy from his palms. It ripped through the reptile's face, entirely, and in a bloody display of force peeled away the rest of its body from the head to the tail, flinging bloody chunks of flesh everywhere until it finally had nothing else to destroy and carried on into the side of a nearby large-scale building. With the last of the red, moist clumps of meat on the ground, Naruto faced his teammates.

Naruto let his arm drop to his sides. "Now we've got to get back to-" He stopped mid-sentence and dropped to his knees. His legs gave way due to the vehement pain in his legs...

... The poison had finally caught up with him.

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Alright then, I am so done. No, I'm uber done! I hope I didn't rush it toward the end. Sorry for the wait, unfortunately, I'm back in school due to its half-ass---and by half-ass I mean totally unfair-- schedule. You guys who read both my stories my be in for a really long wait. Sorry.

Okay, one thing. The Sorrel Anaconda, while made up, it is one of many. So are brown-spotted vipers as well. If I ever focus on an animal, trust me that animal won't be real, it may sound real or may have a very plausible scientific name, most of which I will make up right there out of the blue, but trust me its not.

Something to think about, I am at one 170 reviews. I would really like to get to two hundred, and if that is the case it may inspire me to right some more crazy crap like this. Anyway, I just wanted to put that there for every one to read. And I do hope that you read it.

And if anyone was wondering, No, this does not mean that Ino has become a potential candidate for a pair up with Naruto. No way, I simply felt like doing it, and plus I plan to use her later on. And plus, remember what I mentioned in the first author's note, you know about how doing something random will cure boredom. Well while writing this chapter, I got bored and as you can see, the Ino bit is... pretty random.

So there you go.

Choubatsu: It means "Super strike", you'll find out more about this move later on. This for people, you know who you are, who felt that Naruto needed a move of his own. Happy now?

Personally I think its cool.

So anyway, tell what you though, seriously, I really want to know.

Latr and Thanx

Next chapter: Discovery Summit

GrIm'S sTePpIn' OuT


	7. Discovery Summit

Hello again

So I hoped enjoyed the last chapter of the story. I hope everything was pieced together to everyone's liking, you know because I really hate reading stories were the topics are desultory and have no connection whatsoever to each other. So here's something that I've been tinkering with, that concept of connection. I want to make it so that it feels like everyone in the story is connect by at least one or more linking factor.

So I ask you, the readers, have I done a good enough job portraying that whole concept of connection within the text of my story. It's just something to think about, if you want to respond, you can either PM me or tell me what you think in a review. Like most authors I prefer the answer in a review, but hey whatever floats your boat.

I have one more thing to sat right before I get on with the story, um, a certain, someone left me a rather "beefy" review. It was seriously THE longest review I have ever gotten, its not even funny and the thing was, the guy didn't even space his lines! That must have taken like straight thirty minutes to write, I want to say to that special reviews-- you know who you are-- thank you. That made me feel really important, REALLY important.

Anyway I have not that much to say so...

_"Violence is always the answer, if it doesn't work then you simply haven't used enough of it"-- _The life motto of a sadist.

Enjoy, and maybe that sadist we were speaking about won't find you.

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Crimson Dawn: Uzumaki Naruto

Naruto watched the Hokage Stone Monument from atop the hospital roof today. Still they held their, uncanny, rough brilliance. Behind him, a line of clothing undulated against the cool wind, fluttering with little more than a small sough of ruffling fabric. Naruto, clad in a sea green hospital gown, one that actually covered him entirely, spread his arms feeling his shirt fluctuate with the wind. For a moment his eyes darted to the left, spotting a pair of gamboling tree swallows flap past his face until they disappeared into the sun's golden light.

Mixed in with the natural staccato of chirps and squeaks was the slightly industrial sound of the roughly square, chrome, fanned metal air conditioners protruding from the interminable amount of rooftops.

Cold steel tickled his bare feet, as the top bar of the fence he stood on supported him.

It was hard to believe all that happened yesterday; this, probably, was the most normal thing he'd done in the last nineteen hours. Well, only if you considered ritualistically admiring a mountainous monument commemorating four dead guys to be... normal.

He sighed-- it was a raspy sound. The dissipating effects of those two vipers' poison.

The sky had taken on a most... unusual hue today, painting itself with striking streaks of brilliant purple and orange and red. Magnificent, yet he could help think that it was a caveat; a warning of something to come. He couldn't tell by its color whether or not that something was good or not; clouds were always hard to read.

"Hm," he began, "Nobody decided to attack today? Awkward, I'm actually a little disappointed." Naruto chuckled dryly, carefully preserving what little saliva he'd retained in his mouth. For such mild poison, those snakes really did a number on his legs. But it was not like it mattered anyway.

One good thing about being a container was that if you ever got hurt, you'd heal fast, really fast. Those who didn't know, which was most people, called it unnatural by all standards.

Naruto hopped backward off the fence, shooing a flock of gathered pigeons in his way as he landed right in between them. They flapped wildly, their annoying "coos" invading his ears. Naruto watched the pigeons as they fluttered away, flying in a spiral formation as they ascended. Even for pigeons they flew abnormally close...

"Odd," Naruto said narrowing his eyes, "hey, come back!" He yelled at the fleeing flock of birds. Surprisingly, the birds listened and all of them stooped, in mid air hovering with the gentle flaps of their shiny black feathers glistening against the sun. Simultaneously they cocked their heads to the side.

_"Coo?"_

"Coo?" Naruto said, now folding his arms. He got a good look at their beady little red eyes, and scoffed. "Come down here." He said, and like that the pigeons obeyed, flying down in the same beautiful spiral formation they'd went up in. During their descent they crammed closer together, swirling around in intricate little formations until they hit the floor and, surprisingly, formed a body, a female one.

Shiny black feathers turned to shiny black hair and stupid beady, little red eyes turned to lustrous red orbs of intelligence as the Pigeons filled the air with their cooing and stopped, all of them clumping together to form the kneeling form of Kurenai.

"Talking to yourself Naruto?" She asked, smiling at him as she stood and flicked her hair.

"Spying on your students Kurenai-sensei? That's questionable you know?" He said as he turned and face the Hokage faces once again, a smirk curling his lips.

"It's just a precaution Naruto,-" Kurenai began, "-as of now no one can approach you without taking the necessary precautions, the Hokage's orders. You were bitten by those snakes, we've already seen what happened with Anko when she came in contact with Orochimaru, the hebi bastard. We don't know what might have happened to you when those snakes of hers bit into you. So technically, I'm taking a risk by coming here and seeing you right now, both fatally and professionally, for all I know right now, you could be Orochimaru."

"Then why haven't I killed you yet?" Naruto asked, quickly turning around, adopting a more feral facial expression. It was interrupted by Kurenai's index finger poking him in between his eyes.

"That's easy, because I'm your sensei." She said smiling, he knew that they certainly had come to mutual agreement saying that he was NOT Orochimaru.

"How's Anko?" Naruto asked, sober from his previous nonchalance. Kurenai looked away, biting her lip.

"Better." That's all she said.

"Kurenai-sensei, are you okay?"

"Y-yeah."

"No, I can tell that you are obviously being bothered by something. There is some apparent problem burdening you right now, your temperament tells me so. Besides, why do you even care? What's your relationship with Anko, you seemed to display something short of contempt back when Ojii-san told us that she was the one who ravaged the village." Kurenai's eyes bulged, for a moment. Only for a moment. Following that was Kurenai's sigh.

"On the contrary Naruto, Anko and I are... close. She's... my best friend, we do everything together."

"Hm, that would explain you previous frustration," Naruto elaborated.

"Yes it would...b-but I don't want to speak about that right now. I just wanted to check up on you before the Hokage and the others came here. They'll be testing you like they did Anko, so get ready and go back to your room."

Naruto raised his brow, sharply sucking in air through his teeth. "Oooohhhh, Yeah, I don't know how that's going to work out." He said scratching the back of his head.

"What?" Kurenai asked.

"Yeah, about that--this is going to sound a bit awkward but, um--I'm not really here."

Okay, she was flummoxed, just what was the boy talking ab-...ou....t.

Another sigh exited her lungs, as Kurenai slapped her head. Dormant frustration now redivivus in her again. "Naruto, you'd better not be a clone, or I swear, I'll give your mind the worst genjutsu my mind can conjure up!" She said, poking "Naruto" two more times in the head.

"Well poking me isn't helping!" "Naruto" yelled, rubbing the red bruise in between his eyes. She was serious and she _was_ pretty good at using genjutsu, maybe even better than he was but what did he know? "Jeez, I was just kidding."

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He'd been thinking a lot, which was normal. Orochimaru, somehow, by some otherworldly act of dubiousness, got inside Anko's mind. It was worst then that though, he gained control of it, it was as if his conscience overlapped hers at the time. Whichever was on top was the one that would gain sovereignty over the body. Most likely, that's how it was, that's how it worked. But that still left the question as to how Orochimaru even did it.

Undoubtedly, he knew that Orochimaru had used a technique to do it, a kinjutsu perhaps. No... no perhaps, it _was_ a kinjutsu, something that potentially mind altering had to have been forbidden from use. But just what was the technique, what technique had Orochimaru used on Anko to penetrate her mind. It was odd, how the first hebi fang came back for the second one. There was a list, in the Anbu Torture and interrogation department, it was just a playful joke though. It displayed the top ten Konoha shinobi that Ibiki had the hardest time trying to break down.

Anko was number one, she was the hardest person for him to ever crack, and she still was. He hadn't done it, Ibiki still had no idea that her favorite snack was dango. Odd enough, all he had to do was ask. But despite her extreme mental ramparts, Ibiki hadn't been able to break her. She simply ruled it off saying you can't already break something that had already been broken. She was right too, she could not be broken, nor could she be put back together... Orochimaru had taken a piece with him when he left.

But it seemed that when he came back, he brought that piece back with him and "fixed" her... then broke her again. The only man in history, excluding the Hokage, to bring Anko to her knees. Why Anko though, why did he choose her to infect.

That technique had to power to allow Orochimaru to project himself into the minds of other people, if that was true then why Anko. There was obviously a limit to the extension of the technique--kami forbid that anyone else use it--that Orochimaru used. Otherwise, her would have flung himself into someone much more influential than Anko.

As of now, all Naruto could do was observe and devise plan, especially since the Hokage, bless his old soul, didn't want him didn't want him doing anything... "chakra expending".

"So-," Naruto said, placing his arms behind his head as he leaned back comfortably into the white linen of his hospital bed, "- anything new."

With a hand on his head, Youhei sat, looking off to the side, rather vacantly. Despite his hebetude, he still responded, letting his fingers swim through his red inferno of hair once before uttering out a weak, "Yeah". He faced Naruto, part of his hair covered his eyes though, making him look slightly similar to a bored cyclops. But he quickly shook that visage away, we didn't need two Kakashi's. "Apparently, our friend Anko had a little something extra in her."

Naruto perked up at this, "Oh? And do you think this has something to do with Orochimaru?" Naruto asked.

"Yes... in fact it may be the reason as to why he was able to penetrate her defenses. Test results detected the remnants of a foreign substance in her bloodstream, and when I say foreign, I mean _foreign_. We don't even know what it is, it's not in any of our databases. Despite that, we _do_ know that this unknown compound is chemically structured the exact same way a virus is, ergo-"

"Whatever is in there, is a virus," Naruto finished for him. Youhei's expression, hit by pale orange light, seemed to mimic Naruto's. They both smiled.

"Perhaps it allowed for Orochimaru's entry." Naruto's smile died.

"No," he shook his head, speaking dryly, "I saw Anko, the real Anko, come out for a second. She over came Orochimaru, she broke his hold... with sheer willpower. And we both know that you can't overcome a virus with willpower. Although, the same can't be said about a jutsu."

" So it's a jutsu that did that? Then I guess that we're looking for the wrong things," Youhei concluded, "we've been looking for anything her circulatory system, when we should have been checking through her chakra network."

Sarutobi who hadn't spoken until now, cleared his throat. It was always unsettling how good Ojii-san was at masking his presence, even if he was right there. That's where he got it from. "That's right, but it needs to be done quickly. Surely, whomever's chakra was left over in her system when they applied the technique might still be there."

Naruto smiled, as did Youhei; for a moment all three of their eyes met.

Then the door crashed open and a frantic looking man burst through the door, he looked around until he spotted Naruto. He pointed, "You! Boy! She wants you!" Nervously the man stopped for a second, allowing the room to grow even more gravid with the sound of his own uncontrolled breathing. After a moment, he cleared his throat and straightened out the wrinkles in his white lab coat.

"Yakushi-san, are you feeling fine?" Naruto asked.

Yakushi Kabuto wiped the expression of his face and transformed it into something resembling equipoise. "I'm fine, fine, I apologize for my rude interruption Hokage-sama, but it's Anko, she's irate. And she won't listen to anything we're trying to tell her, she won't take any medicine until she speaks with a certain person.

Sarutobi raised his eyebrow. Kabuto got the message, he pointed at Naruto and curled his finger inward. "Come please."

Naruto, ever-calm Naruto, was already out the door without another word. Nobody present in the room was aware of the twisted grin on Kabuto's face as he followed Naruto out of the room. He'd heard the entire thing, he knew that they knew. But he wouldn't let them find out, if his secret was compromised now then the entire "plan" would be in shambles.

Shortly after, tired of the awkward duty of engaging in badinage with the Hokage--a task only Naruto could do genuinely--Youhei stood and took his leave, as did the Hokage. The Hokage himself, just needed to see to the signing of some paperwork, Youhei on the other hand, needed some much needed alone time with his two daughters.

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Everything around her was dangerous.

Everyone around her was dangerous.

Medicine, was poison.

Doctors, were useless, they could not help her. She didn't need their help, its not like they could do it anything anyway. No doctor could heal a mind, not even with all the latest advances in medical jutsu. A mind could never be healed by chakra.

Maybe... it could be healed though, by seeing one of the four faces that brought comfort to her. One of them was near her. She could see his face through the glass opening in the door. He was just a boy.

The door opened, and two people stepped inside, one of them being that doctor. The other was the face she wanted to see, the last face she saw before Orochimaru took over again.

"You called?" Naruto said calmly, standing before her in his green hospital gown. Primarily, she wanted to see his face because... well it was her solace. She just felt comfortable around his visage of equanimity, and in some ways she felt vulnerable to it. This boy radiated a mass of power, all of it hidden within, it was scary and overwhelming while at the same time benevolent. Yes, his aura was generous, it had something to give to her, HE had something to give to her.

She just didn't know what it was... yet.

"Not really," she said, curling her knees to her ample bosom. The white padded walls around her loomed dangerously far away, it seemed that the room seem to stretch away, making her focus on Naruto. "I just need some...um, you know I don't know what I need. All I know is that, I want you to stay here." Anko, gazed at him, her eyes flashed gold for a millisecond.

Naruto didn't miss it, he saw it as the remnants of the chakra from Orochimaru's technique. Kabuto saw it as an opportunity, at least while _his_ chakra lasted in her body, for Orochimaru to gain control again and have some more fun before the chakra itself fully dissipated.

Anko's eye flicked over to Kabuto. "Leave," she said.

"But-" Kabuto was interrupted by the long tongue that lashed out, almost catching him in the face. If he weren't so used to Orochimaru doing that then he might have gotten himself hit. "Okay...I'll leave." Without another word Kabuto slipped out of the room, smiling.

Anko turned to Naruto once more, his unwavering eyes all but saw through her. "Sorry you had to see that kid."

"I've seen worse." Naruto responded. "Hey, how did you just do that?"

"What?"

"The tongue thing. I thought Only Orochimaru could do that."

"Orochimaru taught it too me... a long... time ago."

"I see... let me ask you something, what else did he _teach_ you before he left." Naruto said as he sat down, hugging his knees, much like Anko had done. He had found that the best way to get someone to open up, was to imitate them. And it was true, because Anko wasted no time opening up.

"Well, you seem to be an OK kid so I guess I can tell you... something."

Naruto smiled.

Anko, weakly, did the same.

About three hours later, Naruto walked outside of the hospital doors, fully garbed, a serious expression on his face. Deep in a scowl, his mind raced around wildly. It was easier than he thought it would be, getting Anko to open up to him was like turning on a television. Absolutely, no effort needed; that was what he basically did, sat, took the remote and turned the television on, and just like a television, Anko began spilling tons of information, both needed and unneeded, at him.

He just took a look into the mind of one of Konoha's most revered and feared Kunoichi ever to exist. And he did it, with so much as a drop of blood.

Naruto raised his chin to the sky, beating his chest primitively. Beat that Ibiki!

If he learned one thing, he learned that underneath all that eccentricity that had become to be known as Anko, there was a frail, broken child who had suffered all the way into adulthood. It was sad but... yes, Anko had grown with the knowledge of something... dangerous, even more the possession of something even more dangerous. She'd been treated differently, just because she possessed it.

Just like him and the Kyuubi.

They were alike. And that was only the surface, they were alike in so many ways that it was almost scary. But it was the good kind of scary... the type of scary that got your blood pumping. Naruto shook his head. No, that was just excitement quelling up in him.

Naruto was absently aware of Kurenai beside him. She tapped him.

"You okay?"

"Absolutely, in fact, I think that I'm much better than okay. Kurenai sensei... I don't know whether or not you've felt this before, but have you ever felt that there is someone out there that understands you in a way that no one else can and ever will?"

Kurenai raised her brow. "Define, understand," she said.

"In a way that isn't romantic. I mean someone whose been through almost everything you've been through, or at least things that are on par with those things... haven't you ever felt that?" Naruto smiled, more like smirked. His wide rictus caused Kurenai to back away. He shook his head. "Sorry, anyway, I just spoke to Anko."

"What?"

Naruto's smile died.

"What? It's not that big of a deal."

"Naruto, it _is _a big deal, I came to see her earlier, today. When I came, the first the first thing I saw was a med nin being hurled against the wall. He suffered from a concussion. She wouldn't let anyone come near. She wouldn't take any medicine, she didn't want to be healed at all. Completely, she'd shut herself off from every other person around her.

"Until I came inside."

"Really now."

"Yeah, until now I thought that I was the only one who she would allow to come near her. That's when you come in, and she just lets you in like that? It does mean something, obviously, she sees something about you that nobody else can see."

"I know." Naruto responded. "I see something in her as well."

Kurenai raised her brow. "Not in that way," he went on, "Anyway, there's something else that I want to discuss with you. Its about Anko's students, the Fumina sisters."

"What about them."

"She wants _us_ to take over their training, at least until she gets her rank back."

"I don't know whether or not she'll even be getting that rank of hers back." That's when Naruto laughed.

"Oh, trust me, I'll make sure she gets her rank back. Tokubetsu Jonin correct?"

Kurenai nodded.

Naruto was gone in a flash.

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"Give it back. Give it back. Give it back. Give it back. Give it back. Give it back. Give it back."

"No." Sarutobi said, his eye twitched dangerously.

"Give it back. Give it back. Give it back. Give it back. Give it back. Give it back. Give it back."

"I said no," Sarutobi responded, a vein bulged from his forehead. Naruto suddenly stormed in here, asking him to give Anko her rank back, that wasn't happening anytime soon. She was still dangerous... but-

"Give it back. Give it back. Give it back. Give it BACK."

-that mantra of his was getting annoying. But that still didn't mean he would give in. Sarutobi simply, ignored the boy and stared back down at the pile of papers before him. Then Naruto stopped.

Sarutobi actually stopped for a moment, Naruto never gave up this easily.

"Kage bunshin no jutsu."

Two Naruto's stepped out from behind the original, both carrying wide cheesy grin's, much like their creator. Sarutobi grimaced, he knew what was about to ensue. Standing on either side of him, both Narutos then began chanting.

"Give it back, give it back, give it back, give it back, give it BACK."

The Hokage just sighed, he'd never get any work done like this.

As Naruto, the real Naruto, left the room, he stopped at the door, half in half out.

"Enjoy the surround sound, Ojii-san,"

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The routine for the next couple of weeks was simple, if not perfunctory. Wake up, stare at the stone faces, visit Sanae and Konoe in the hospital in the morning; then he'd swing on over to the special containment ward of the hospital to see Anko-neechan. Mostly, they just played board games, those that were allowed anyway. Anko _did_ enjoy playing shogi, but unfortunately the losing to Naruto part was the part that she held in contempt. Games like that required a masterful grasp of real-time tactics and strategy, you had to always have a plan and then a back plan if the first one went wrong. He soon found out, via temper tantrums and childish fits thrown by hers truly that strategy wasn't her thing. Anko was more of the...K.I.A. type, or 'kill in action', as she so gracefully put it during one of their daily chats.

But Anko was smart she wasn't an ex-jounin for nothing, her grasp for the game for outclassed a lot of those whom he'd seen playing for years, and she was just a tyro in the game. His guess was that Anko was a quick thinker, she liked the suspense of _not_ knowing what was going to happen next and then acting accordingly.

It was that raw, twisted form of unharnessed curiosity that Naruto admired about her the most. In some ways, she thought much like him. But there were differences in their battle logic though. He, preferred a more structural approach to the field, never go in with out a plan. If any problems were to occur than he would adapt and generate new ideas, tactics to help him win. But with Anko, her strategy, for lack of a better word, was much more facile and pliable. She never had plan and if she did, it usually was simple. The woman preferred to just "wing it" and improvise, she liked to think on the run. The thrill of it was enthralling, Naruto himself did the same, however not to the extent that she did.

Anko simply threw herself into the excitement of suspense, much more attracted to it then he was and while his actions were alike, he always had some other clever though pumping through his mind.

For the most part, he had spent the better portion of his time with Anko, probing her mind with any and all bits of information pertaining to Orochimaru. Their conversations on that topic, usually resulted in either a pretty irate Anko or an utterly sobbing kunoichi. It was more the former than the latter, but when it did happen and when he did see Anko cry it was always due to her retelling the times when Orochimaru did "terrible things", as she had put, to her. Those moments were when she was at her most vulnerable. He had never though it, but Anko made him swear to never tell anyone of those rare times. And if you didn't know, Anko made people swear with their blood, literally.

Kurenai came to visit repeatedly as well. When she said that her and Anko were best friends, Naruto had disregarded what she said, they really _did_ do everything together. And in ways that were alike in almost every way. When it came down to likes and dislikes, the only thing that Kurenai didn't have an aptitude for that Anko did was blood, dango, and the childish love of practical jokes, other than that they were like twins, inseparable. Actually, Anko did have another difference, she had the tendency to..."flaunt" herself a lot, which was something that Kurenai refrained from doing on a daily basis, even so she still had lecherous eyes glues to her posterior regularly. So partially the two shared that trait, except Anko basked in the light of her own glory while Kurenai... simply walked away from it.

Also they were very watchful of each other.

"Anko, you seem to be rather attached to our blond friend." Kurenai jested.

Anko huffed, standing up. "You've got it the wrong way Kure-chan. Naruto's the one's who's attached to me, right?" Naruto simply looked away. "Watch." Anko said, her voice rose to a higher tone. "Narutoooo, who's the most physically attractive female you know?" She outlined her hips with her hands seductively.

Naruto turned away and pointed at Anko. "You suck." He said.

"Then why did you answer her," Kurenai asked barely containing her laughter.

"Because it's true."

They shared a laughed.

Finally, after a couple days of the same thing, visits, training with his teams, Naruto got a call to go to the Hokage's office.

He made haste to get there as soon as possible.

Naruto jogged, blazing up the Hokage tower stairs leading to the Hokage's office. His hand hit the nob, no resistance met his grip as it turned smoothly, allowing him through.

"You called, Hokage-sama?" His eyes darted around his mentor's office, those present all staring him down. Inside his gut he felt the hot prickly irritation building up in the form of nervousness. He wasn't really nervous from their glares, rather, it was _why_ they were here that put him off the edge. Naruto narrowed his eyes, spotting his entire Anbu team in the room, as well as Morino Ibiki.

Naruto's eyes then darted down to the forest green telephone receiver in the Hokage's hands. The old man held it up, his expression grim. "For you." Sarutobi said.

Slowly, Naruto's eyes widened. Who could that be? He wasted no time finding out, as he basically jammed the cold receiver to the side of his face. For a moment, nobody said anything, he waited. Held his breath. Waited some more. The suspense was killing him. Who was this fucker?

He cast a sideways glance at his captain, a shrug was Saito's response. Shaking his head, Naruto breathed deeply; enough was enough.

"Moshi-Moshi? Wha-!"

Naruto gripped the phone tighter now, the reaction from everyone else was expected, they shifted uncomfortably. The tension in the room seemed to quadruple, no it spiked, reaching its apex. Naruto's finger darted down quickly, hitting the button for the speaker, and almost immediately, deranged laughter blared through the static. It sounded distorted; the voice was unnaturally deep for... anyone actually. Most likely, the guy had masked his voice as a safety precaution.

"What the-," Sakai began, but he was silenced by the Hokage's hand... not to mention the subtle spike of Ki sent his way.

"Hahahaha! Naruto-kun, it seems that Lord Orochimaru-sama has some interest in you. Just so we're clear...heh, this is the S.A.G. speaking, that's right, I've heard you're little pet name for me, the second Oto agent! I can hear you Naruto-kun and friends, I can see you too, so don't try anything funny." His speech was cut mid-way by another round of deep laughter.

"Masking you're voice huh? You coward." Naruto spat, around him, everyone leaned in.

The agent laughed once more, a sound that was beginning to make Naruto irate. "Of course! One can never be too cautious, right Naruto-kun. Oh an by the way... how's Anko doing?"

Naruto grimaced, feeling the fire ignited in his stomach, and he was vaguely aware of his fingers digging into the wood of the Hokage's desk. Sarutobi gave Naruto an apprehensive glance.

"What do you want?"

"I've already told you, it's not what I want, only what Lord Orochimaru desires. And he wants to play a little game with you... all of you, but specifically, Naruto is the centerpiece. I'm sure that you've put me on speaker right?" When Naruto didn't respond, the agent laughed again. "See I told you I could see you. Anyway, here's the gist of the mission-"

"And why the fuck should we play along?" Naruto cut him off, angrily, Naruto leaned on the wooden desk. For a moment, there was nothing but static.

"Oh, then do you not care about the lives of the villagers?"

This time, Sakai interjected, rushing up to the desk next to Naruto. "You son of a bitch, what have you done?"

"Hahahahaha!"

"Sakai-san! Calm yourself, you too Naruto-kun, let this man speak." Sarutobi said, for a moment--and he might have just been seeing things but-- Naruto thought that he'd seen a glimmer of something in the Hokage's eye. Anger perhaps.

Anger was good.

"Thank you, Hokage-sama." The agent said over the static rattled speakers. "Now, like I was saying, pay attention now. Before Lord Orochimaru was finished with her, he had Anko set up a few charges here and there, I hope you didn't think that rampaging through the village was his only objective... fools!" Quickly, Saito, gestured to Touei, Anbu communication seals. The message was simple.

_Touei.... call... record it._

With a nod, the baboon masked Anbu, produced a small scroll from one his side pockets. Seeing as how they didn't have the means to trace the call, recording it was all that they could do. With masterful dexterity, Touei unfurled the scroll, smoke erupting from its contents the instant it was open, a small device dropped down from the smoke and was caught before it hit the desk. When the smoke cleared, the scroll was already rolled back into original state and tucked away in Touei's pocket, in his hands was a small tape recorder.

Yukari sweat dropped, Touei the pretentious bastard. Did he really have to do all that just to get a tape recorder, especially since they were being watched? She had no doubt that the agent had seen that, given that he didn't respond meant that either he did notice it or that he didn't care and was so confident in himself that he'd let something like that go on unaddressed. She returned her attention back onto the phone once Touei placed the recorder by the phone, hitting the big red "record" button.

"-The mission is simple: there's a bomb placed somewhere in this village, potentially, it could destroy the entire village... that is... if you can stop from detonating. Furthermore, there are others, more bombs, they're smaller but collectively, can do a whole lot of damage. I've made their locations... relatively easy to find, so you should be okay. You have until noon."

Simple.

Naruto tensed, as did everyone else, with the exception of the Hokage; he was the first to speak afterward. "And are there any conditions that we must meet?" The old man asked. "Well," Sarutobi prodded, "are there?"

"Yes... this is for Naruto-" The agent said. "-follow your orders, now duck!"

"WhAAAAOLY CRAP!" Naruto yelled, just in time to alert everyone of the gleaming Fuma shuriken that crashed through the window, sailing by a hair's breath over the Hokage's hat and embedding itself into the wall. Sarutobi did not seemed at all phased, that is until a snarl pushed his upper lip up. The Hokage growled, staring angrily at the fluttering note hanging from the wire looped around the hole in the center of the weapon. Yukari grabbed it, and read.

"It says: good luck... I'm watching you. I loom over you ominously, every day I see you and you see me...who or what am I? Listen to my words though, what lies beneath may be what kills you." Yukari looked over at the Hokage, the intense features of her eagle mask hiding behind it the slightly scared expression she held when she saw Sarutobi's glare.

"Have fun...hahahaha-....._beeeeeeeep-" _The line was cut, allowing the dead buzz of the phone's dial tone to drone loudly over the speaker. Everyone looked at the Hokage. That was an obvious threat, not only against them but against the entire village. Slowly Naruto hung the phone, and looked at his mentor.

Behind the Hokage, as hazy as hazy could have been, Naruto espied something through the destroyed window; a figure was it? A man?

"Who the fuck is that?" Naruto asked, pointing past Sarutobi's hat. True to his word in the distance loomed a man, he wore a long ragged cloak and a pure white Anbu mask. Just as he was about to turn away, Sarutobi raised one hand in the air, and quickly dropped it in a swift chopping motion.

"Follow him... Now! Everyone stay connected. Naruto, Touei, you stay with me."

Those words were all it took to spur everyone but Ibiki into motion. They were gone within the second.

Naruto gritted his teeth, "Why am _I _staying? Ojii-san, let me go too!" Naruto pleaded.

"No! This entire ordeal, is made for you, it would be foolish to risk leading you into a trap!"

The boy's anger faded. He though about it, then agreed. "So why am I here?" He asked in a calm, refined tone.

"You'll be finding the bomb."

"Ibiki," Strange he'd almost forgotten Ibiki was there, "I want eyes, everywhere, I want as many Jounin and elite Jounin and Anbu personnel as possible searching the streets for anyone or anything that even looks suspicious! All nin are to be armed, we don't know how powerful this person is, and I'd rather avoid an unnecessary casualties, however, the use of chakra is prohibited."

Ibiki nodded accordingly, showing no signs of disapproval.

"Have a squad set up a perimeter containment around the village, nobody goes in or out. A C.D.N will be needed, if that bastard uses chakra, we'll find him, let's just hope he's stupid enough to do it. If what he's saying is true, this village could go down in rubble. Get to it, mobilize every available nin of those levels, I want you to send in everyone if possible!"

Naruto flouted. "No questions asked, Naruto-kun." Sarutobi said, for a moment it looked as if Naruto was about to argue. But he soon swallowed down his defiance and resigned to his fate. "Sit tight, I need to make a call."

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"Moshi-Moshi-...uwuahh! Hokage-sama! Yes...., what? A bomb? Okay... that's good." For a moment he paused, "OH, that's bad. I understand, how long will it take him to get here-"

His sentence was cut off when a baboon masked Anbu tapped him on the shoulder, startling everyone else in the lab. "Youhei, Fumina Youhei?" The man asked.

"What the f-uhh never mind, yes, he's here. I still don't know how they do that, but anyway... leave it to me, we'll catch this asshole!"

Youhei hung the phone, it 'chinged' loudly. He spun around to face his ..."helper"... and offered him a hand which, of course, sat their hanging in the air until the awkward air weighing down on his told him to put his hand down.

"Ok Shima Touei... well, let's get to work." Around him, his department just stood there, not knowing what to do... that is until, Youhei clapped his hands twice.

"Okay ladies! What are we doing here, get a move on, everyone at you're stations, I'll explain everything once we're set up. We'll be analyzing and tracing a phone call, there's someone who we need to catch... and the only way we can identify him is by the sound of his mechanically altered voice," he put a little edge in his voice, "_can we do it?"_ He asked rhetorically.

The members of his Anbu investigations division seemed to be amused, for they smiled.

In unison they chanted. "YES SIR!"

He turned to Touei, who already had a laptop and a tape recorder set up, connecting the two appliances to a server, the main server that ran throughout the room.

The red head cracked his knuckles. "Get ready you son of a bitch, we'll catch you, you'll pay for making my daughters suffer."

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Before Naruto left the tower, he left the Hokage with some very lasting words. Sarutobi didn't seemed to take a liking to what the boy had to say, frankly, his proposal was ludicrous. He'd called the leader of the village on his words, "send in everyone". Truly, the boy was smart, and at the same time cruelly manipulative. Right before Naruto left, he slammed his hands back on the top of his desk, beseeching him to let Anko out of custody.

"If you're gonna send everyone, send her. Let her earn her rank back!" Naruto roared. "She can do it."

His treatment toward Anko, was, despite the circumstances, unjust. Technically one could say that yes, it was her, but then again it wasn't and he knew it. Naruto was right. But Naruto didn't understand the consequences that came with making such rash decisions. _If_ Anko, only _if_ she were to prove herself amidst this chaos, then yes, her previous rank would be befitting of her. Then came the ramifications, which was something Sarutobi didn't have time for; giving the female Kunoichi, deemed insane by all those ignorant, her rank back. Seriously? On the outside, it seemed to be a foolish move, a move that a _wise_ Hokage would never make. However, underneath all that, when it came down to the fine print, giving Anko her rank back was the right thing to do. So...

"I understand," was all the Sarutobi said, turning away from the boy's florid grin. With renewed vigor, Naruto had all but exploded from the already broken window of the Hokage tower.

_Anko-neechan would be free! _He wasted no time, heading toward the hospital and retrieving her. The receptionist at the front desk was smart enough to shut her mouth as he flew past. He hadn't listened to anyone, doctors, nurses, assistants, nobody. None of the mattered. He even bypassed Kabuto, speeding by without so much as a word. The white haired Med-nin attempted to call out to him, but it had been in vain for the patter of Naruto's feet filled the halls.

It had taken him no less than five minutes to find Anko, explain the situation, and divulge the good news. If he weren't so short, she would have probably jumped right into his arms, so he just settled for a strong, _very_ breath taking hug. And he meant breath _taking_ not breath _stopping_. She had a really strong grip, the next time she would offer him a hug he'd note well to decline, politely, and just go find a nice steel girder to hug. They were MUCH more comfortable.

Now they were outside.

"Any ideas as to how we're going to catch this guy?" Anko asked, the white cloth of her hospital gown-

_-NOT A STRAIGHT JACKET!-_

-Clung to her neck, ever now and then her fingers would move toward her throat and scratch voraciously. Anko was sagacious, eccentric yes, but she had sound judgment. That prick, whoever he was, had called at the worst time, currently the clock struck 'nine thirty'. That gave him, he didn't want to think of it. He'd wasted nearly an hour searching for the fucking bomb. He'd wasted so much precious time! This guy was like his personal boogie man; always watching, waiting, observing until the time was right to strike.

How he did it... kami only knows that.

Naruto just shrugged, offering a smile. "I don't know, you're the jounin here, I'm just a genin." He chuckled from the lucid jab in the ribs she gave him, but quickly sobered, his expression gradually decreasing into impassiveness. "But seriously, what are we doing? We've got until noon to find this bomb, and as of now I have now clue where the piece of shit is!"

He threw up his hands, but they were gently placed down by Anko's strong grip. "Come on now, think, you're the genius here."

What good was thinking going to do. Enemy location, unknown; location of major civilian threat, unknown. Where the FUCK he was going, unknown. So what would thinking do him...

Anko's face brightened, watching Naruto shift into a position she had labeled, his "thinking pose" during one of his visits.

Slowly, Naruto brought his hand up to slap himself in the face.

Anko blinked. Once. "Did you figure something out genius?" She changed expressions as she spotted several Jounin zipping along the rooftops, past there positions. Nobody spared her a glance.

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Anko left him in a flash once he told her what to do, her way of thinking was, as complex and intricate as her mind was, relatively simple. If it involved, death, killing, blood, knives, pain, or anything else that had to do with the underworld, then you can count her in. In a way, Anko looked at the world with a form of primal bloodlust, while at the same time retaining the cognitive thought that kept her human. She looked at the world around her like a predator, like a snake, everyone beneath her was prey, fresh meat for her to "devour" whenever she felt like it, but it was that human side to her that kept the devil within at bay and provided her with the necessary equipoise. 'Counterbalance' was the word Naruto had used to describe her mind, the unified efforts of the two powers within her resonating until they came to one final result: Mitarashi Anko.

Predator, while at the same time prey.

Her instructions were simple enough, and if everything went well, she would get to kill. She had to give it to Naruto, the kid was smart, he'd figured everything out rather quickly. There wasn't just one person they were looking after, there were two people.

She was currently going after the one he'd appointed to her. Mizuki, the former teacher at the academy. Naruto's explanation, while informative, was a boring but easy to get wrapped around what he was explaining and by the time he'd finished perorating she knew exactly what he meant.

The agent, by what he told her, had thrown in a note via fuma shuriken, that note held a petty message. Turns out, it wasn't so petty, it was a clue, a very subtle one.

Anko spotted a flash of pink hair and she rushed up to meet with it, that was Naruto's partner. She was there in less then three seconds, keeping a pace in the treetops that was slightly sub par with Yukari's.

"Hey," she whispered.

Yukari didn't respond at first. "Aren't you supposed to be in the loony bin?" She asked, turning the beak of her eagle mask on Anko. The hebi Kunoichi blinked dully.

"Oh, again with the insults, I thought that people associated with Naruto would be different, I was wrong I guess."

"Uh... no, no, I didn't mean it like that, I just wanted to know how you got out." She clarified.

Anko shrugged and looked forward, "Naruto got me out, I'll explain later right now I-"

"Hey, what is _she_ doing here?" Sakai blurted out, some other of the nameless Anbu chorused in agreement.

Anko growled, her left eye twitching, "SHUT UP YOU PRICKS!," she turned quickly back to Yukari, but did a double take when Yukari wasn't there. Instead a man wearing an odd tiger mask invaded her vision.

"Hello, what are you doing here?"

Pushing up one eyebrow, Anko shook her head slightly, silently mouthing out "Naruto". Saito nodded in accordance.

"Fine, then what do you have to tell us. I'm sure he wouldn't have sent _you_ here without a reason."

She ignored the slight edge marring his voice and continued. She stuck out one finger and pointed ahead of them at the fleeing nin in the ragged cloak. "You're chasing that guy huh? Well Naruto figured it out, he's not the only guy."

Saito almost looked surprised when she said it, if looking surprised was even possible with a mask on. "Elaborate." He said, never taking his eyes of the nin in front of him.

Anko pointed once more, "Sure, but before I do so, I want to know something. That guy's slow, why haven't you caught him, at the rate he's going he's barely hitting the speed of a jounin, even without chakra, you guys could do much more than what he's doing."

"He's a bomber, bombers have buttons. Buttons that, _if _pushed, can cause a lot of people to suffer in some of the most large scale and devastating ways. We don't need that, if he has a trigger, I doubt that he'll hesitate to use it to his advantage, if we even seem like a threat, everything goes boom. Get it, you don't bite the hand that can blow you all the way to Timbuktu."

Anko only laughed, "I thought it was you don't bite the hand that feeds you."

"Anko-san, we're ninja, as far as we are concerned, no hand feeds us."

"I guess so," she said taking out a senbon, picking her teeth with it.

"Well you seem to be rather insouciant about things, calm?"

"Serene." She responded, a grim tinging her facial features. "Anyway, that's right, Naruto figured it out, smart kid, you should be proud of him. We're not chasing one guy, we're chasing two. And this guy, is a decoy."

Saito sighed, "The thought crossed my mind, but I decided not to act on it."

For a moment Anko contemplated on denigrating him but decided against it. Her expression got somber as she began to explain things the way Naruto had explained it, monotonously, just like a robot. When Naruto said it, it'd freaked her out, hopefully she could do the same.

"Listen, there are two agents, Mizuki, and one of which the identity of is unknown. Invariably, we're at a lost, that leaves us at a disadvantage, but-" she drawled on lolling her hand back and forth lazily, "-that also leaves for a 'x' amount of possible ways that we can be observed from the inside out , all of which can be controlled by the second agent. He could be anyone, at anyplace at anytime, his vantage points _were limitless_. For example, he could be the guy on guard duty watching Mizuki's cell, get it?" A couple other nameless Anbu and the rest of Naruto's team came in closer to hear.

_"_Buuut, he decided to plant a bomb in this... well technically I did it, but Orochimaru is to blame... anyway, when the bastard chose that option he singled himself out, right now we can find him, he currently has the perspective and vantage point of a bomber." Anko allowed a smirk. " We've got to think like a bomber and bombers always have a plan B."

"But we haven't even figured out Plan A."

"I said the same exact thing, but apparently, Naruto thinks differently, he asked me this question: what is the purpose of a bomb? Bombs have one purpose, to explode, we're trying to take this purpose away, we are trying not to have the bomb live out its purpose. That's what the bastard wants, that's why he's the decoy.... its a little confusing but, if you think about it from the predatory viewpoint, this guy's plan A depends on us not wanting that bomb to explode."

There was nothing but silence, it didn't sound like much but it explained, a lot. Someone gasped, it was Yukari. "And if we keep our distance from the guy," she the Haruno continued," not wanting him to detonate the bomb, as a result he becomes an effective decoy!" She exclaimed, "We don't want him to approach him because of the possibility that he may blow the bomb, well a good bomber never puts himself on the front line... d-don't you get it? He's not the bomber, the real guy is making us think that this asshole is the bomber and he's using us, as long as we don't attack and simply follow, to make him into a decoy with the sole purpose of leading us away. And as long as we don't attack, this guy serves his purpose as an active decoy."

Anko actually laughed. "Exactly what the blond kid said! So instead of playing along with this guy's plan A we can attack and force him into a plan B, we can be certain that this nin in front of us doesn't have the detonator in his hand, although he's making it look that way. So forcefully initiate the true bomber's plan b and this turn this decoy into a sacrifice."

"T-That's ingenious." Sakai muttered, "this guy really knows what he's doing."

"That doesn't matter right now, Anko just saved the day....so-"

"Attack?"

"Well technically Naruto saved it but... yeah, attack."

Without the nuisance of sound, the dozen Anbu behind her all sped up, blurring past her with nothing but a rush of air, Anko just smiled. Seeing how almost immediately, the nin had gotten defensive, flinging dozens of kunai and senbon back at them. He'd gotten real frantic really quickly, which brought a smile to her face; the all too unbelievable notion that, yes, Naruto was absolutely right had just boosted her appearance up as well.

It didn't take long for them to detain the bastard, he stood not a chance when the Anbu swarmed and overwhelmed him like a pack of hungry lions. It was a rudimentary tactic that was considered taboo for most Anbu but, they were pretty irate at the moment, so crude maneuvers was their forte.

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Saito's voice rang in Naruto's ear dulcetly, his words were sweet like honey.

"Naruto you're a genius."

Yes, yes, he knew it. He _was_ a genius wasn't he?

Now came the second part of his grand unveiling, this guy was smart, but Naruto was...not smarter, rather he was... prepared. Naruto's mind, the super computer that it was was wired to think like his enemy, no matter who or what the enemy may be. When it came to thinking like the one in control, Naruto was number one.

Most called it a god complex, but he referred to it as a predator's complex. A god could wipe everything off the face of the planet with a little as a sneeze. He glanced down at his stomach. Apparently demons were no different than gods.

"You're the worst." Naruto hissed.

"Am I?" The agent replied. Of course, Naruto was right, but there was a second more underhanded part to the story. A part meant directly for him. "Tell me," he wheezed, "how did you figure out that Mizuki was the decoy?"

Naruto sneered, bashing his fist into the agents sternum once more, the bone gave no resistance and cracked under the pressure of his blow.

"Ahh-fuck!"

"It was simple really, once I stopped thinking like the hunter instead of the hunted, this shit just miraculously became clear to me. It was a good plan, especially since it delayed us for so long, although I don't know why you did it." The agent simply laughed, his voice coming out as muffled through his glossy white mask, his laughter, gradually, turned to wild sputtering.

"Ahh... damn, I think you punctured a lung."

Naruto simple shrugged, "Well isn't it fair?"

The agent didn't respond. The radio earpiece erupted with static in Naruto's ear before Youhei's voice cleaved through, slowly gaining clarity. "Naruto, do you copy?" Reflexively, he tapped his ear at the sound, diverting his attention from the masked Anbu whose chest he was sitting on.

"Yeah, I copy, and I got the guy."

There was a brief pause before Youhei's voice erupted once more. "WHAT--uh, no, no, that's good. Well it might not matter, but we've identified him, his name is Suki Yasatoru, jounin, he served in Heavy Ops division near Anbu HQ. Apparently, he was pretty skilled when it came to illusionary techniques, had master's grasp of it. Odd for one serving in a team the focused primarily on martial and destructive techniques. See if you can get something from him, over and out." The line was cut.

Just as Naruto prepared to open his mouth, the static return, as did Youhei's voice. "Whoa...uh, wait. Where the fuck are you... and what about the bomb?"

"I know where the bomb is, but I can't tell you where I am." Naruto said. He winced from the jolt of pain Youhei's voice sent down his ear when he yelled out 'WHY NOT!'. "Listen," Naruto began, "This game is centered around me, Orochimaru wanted _me_ for some reason, I'll find it out... alone. I pretty sure this douche won't speak to anyone besides me."

"Well that's why we have Ibi-" Naruto didn't have time for this, violently, he tore his earpiece from his ear and hurled it to the ground. He could just barely discern the faint sounds of Youhei's screaming his voice.

_Naruto...NARUTOOOO!_

He shook it off, and returned to the man underneath him. And smiled, justice would be served, he committed a crime, a severe crime. Hiding a bomb... in the Hokage stone faces, unforgivable. Only punishable by death.

"Yasatoru-san," the agent seemed to flinch, if not shiver at the mentioning of his name, "why did you defect to sound?"

"Because, I hate Konoha..." He frowned, what a crappy, vague answer.

"Is that all, or did you do it for something... else. Was there an ulterior motive? Did Orochimaru promise you something?"

No response. Naruto growled.

His hand moved quickly, plucking a senbon from his weapons pouch, thrusting it down into the side of Yasatoru's mask. He jammed it directly above the point that was above the cheek, once the needle penetrated his mask, it sliced through the soft flesh of his cheek and eventually through his teeth then digging a little into his tongue.

"Gheee!"

"Painful... isn't it," he plucked out another senbon, "Hows about another?"

"Fuchhhk gwyou!" Naruto simply sighed and punched him once more in his already damaged chest.

"Listen nobody in Konoha knows where we are, right now we're off the map. If I decided to kill you, no one will hear, if I torture you, no one will hear it. If you give me what I want peacefully, no one but me will hear it, tell me what I want to know now and you''ll get off easy." He stopped for a moment, the sides of his lips curling upward to give a fanged smile, much like a dog would do before it lunged for your throat. "Or, I could call everyone here, have you shipped Ibiki and have _him_ extract the information. You have heard of Morino Ibiki right, you have heard the way they all scream when they meet him...right?"

Naruto's words were, icy, liquid nitrogen sinking into the agent's ears, freezing his brain. All time had stopped, two choices were to be made. The former or the latter, for the agent's sake the former was the one better suited to help him at least survive a while longer. Yasatoru's body seemed... frigid, taut underneath Naruto's body, stricken with the possibility of what may happen to him. It was all good fun the genius genin though.

Naruto spoke again. "I can make it so that you _don't _have to see Ibiki, I'll help you."

Beneath his mask, he blinked with celerity, astonished. "Y-you will?" Naruto nodded and after an apprehensive nod of his head he muttered out, "o-okay I'll tell you."

"Good." Naruto said, his feral visage shifting into a jovial and disarming smile. "I'm going to remove you're mask though, then you'll tell me." The agent didn't say anything, a sign of his approval. Naruto grabbed his mask, stopped once, and pulled it off thoroughly, removing it in such a manner that allowed the senbon protruding from his face to slide out as well. If this guy was smart, he wouldn't try anything, especially not any of his genjutsu that he was so skilled in.

Naruto froze.

Freaky was the word that came to mind. The mask unfurled long wavy locks of unruly, bright--not nearly as bright as Naruto's-- blond hair. Underneath his bangs lurked cold blue eyes, staring back at Naruto's, his slightly tanned skin was tinged red at the cheek were a raw, bloody hole wept blood.

The guy looked almost EXACTLY like him, okay, he had some more matured facial features, and a harder jaw but other than the minor things, this guy was Naruto's spitting image. Freaky indeed. Naruto almost back away when he looked at Yasatoru's face, not out of disgust, but out of awe. And some, if not a little bit, appreciation that this guy was holding up the common dogma that **all** blonds were attractive. But then that would count Ino as well... well she was-...never mind.

Let the interrogation begin.

"What was you're purpose for doing this?"

"Orochimaru told me to."

"Why?"

"He wanted to perform an experiment."

"With who?"

"You."

"Not surprising. How do I deactivate the bomb that's hidden underneath this monument?"

"Cut the green wire, next to the safety clip, it runs into the components of the countdown mechanism, it'll stop it."

"Thank you... now, if we were to, I don't know, look for a Orochimaru, where in Oto would we find him." Yasatoru laughed.

"You're on your own, that guy's got so many hideouts, not even his own men know where he is, but I'll tell you one thing, I've only been to one hideout, but its not in Oto, he's got hideouts stashed all over the Lands. It's l-like a network or something...," he paused to lick the inside of his cheek, "...uh well the place I was taken to was a place called Taro island, within the borders of Sea country, there he had an underground hideout where he kept... dozens of... creatures... these things, monsters. They used to be human, he told me, but after giving them the curse mark, they mutated...uh I guess. But they were powerful, immense in strength, and their chakra was off the charts... it was beautiful. I wanted that power, I needed it, to get back at the bastards in this crap village."

Naruto narrowed his eyes, looks like Anko wasn't the only one who had the curse mark. "And let me guess, you traded yourself to Orochimaru because of a weak promise that he would give you the curse mark." Once the agent nodded.

"Is that all?"

"Well, all that I know anyw-AAYY HEY, what are you doing?!" Naruto pressed his index and middle finger onto Yasatoru's forehead, pointing them like a gun, his nail dug into the man's skin, drawing blood. His thumb was cocked back like the hammer.

"Thanks for the help...., but you betrayed us for something a petty and mundane as revenge, you don't even deserve a second chance. It's been real but.... Choubatsu..." Without a warning Naruto blew apart Yasatoru's head with the tip of his two fingers, tearing away large sections of flesh and bone with unrestrained force. Two portions of the man's cranium gushed out diverging their paths once they hit the floor with the sickening wet crunch of skin, skull, and gray matter being obliterated. His blood and pale chunks of brain were all but skid marks against the rock, slushy and damp, was his blood. And where his head had once been lay a two foot deep crater filled almost to the brim with the blood the continuously drained out down through his neck. He actually winced from the sight of the gristly decapitation, smiling a bit at his handiwork.

"Hey...buddy, you OK?"

There was no response.

"Oh well." Naruto shrugged and tossed the corpse a handkerchief produce from his pocket. "Clean yourself up, you're a mess!"

Satisfied, he stood, dusting himself off. That was easy... too easy; easy enough to call suspicious. There something odd, about this set up, the outcome of this little game was just too conspicuous. And predatorily speaking, you never played games with the prey if they actually could win. The fact that Yasatoru knew he was going up against an entire village with not much backup was odd, and even odder, the entire result of the game had been just one big stall. A predator didn't stall for anyone...unless he was trying to get to something else at the time.

The thought had instilled in Naruto an all too present paranoia that kept tapping him on the shoulder, the possibility of another objective kept yelling out to him. Naruto was a curious being, he couldn't ignore it the fact.

Paranoia aside though, it was time to find that bomb.... 'green wire, green wire', he repeated in his head as he jogged off toward his next destination.

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What was up with all the commotion? Up until now, the clamorous patter of myriad shinobi hitting my roof was all that I could hear. And it was beginning to tick me off, however, for some reason the onslaught of irritating sound just ceased to exist.

What was going on out there?

I walked out of his bathroom, wearing a pair of shorts and a navy blue shirt, personal favorite of mine to wear when walking in my own domain. I ruffled my hair with an already damp towel that still held the leftover aroma from the fruity shampoo.

I am NOT gay.... I just prefer to have my hair imbued with the pleasant smell of citrus.

Shampoo aside, luckily, today Kakashi had let us off early after a minor d-rank mission. He said he had something to "attend" to-- and I use the word hesitantly-- that was a dire emergency. I simply shrugged when he dismissed us, it didn't really matter why, I was ok with it as long as it meant time away from my team... especially... her.

The pink haired one.

I don't know why but the thought of being away from my team calmed me. Was that strange? I wonder.

After I tossed the towel on my bed, I stretched, feeling the taut, smooth muscle beneath my skin loosen a bit. I don't what it was about today, but for some reason my hairs were standing on end; I was overcome with the feeling of vulnerability. I couldn't quite place it directly, but I was prey... for someone, somebody, some surreptitious bastard was watching over me covertly. Whether or not his motives fueled by malice I didn't know, but if one thing was apparent, he sure wasn't making any attempt to hide himself.

Because I knew he was here.

Reflexively, I reach for my weapons pouch that was normally strapped to my thigh. Immediately, I cursed. Shit! It wasn't there.

Whoever was in my room with me noticed as well, I could tell by the hand that tapped my shoulder.

I froze.

"Hello Sasuke."

I tried to turn, but his clutched my shoulder in one of the deadliest vice-grips I had ever been in. I was quickly brought to my knees, wincing from the pain of this guy's hand.

"Don't turn around," he whispered. He voice sounded muffled, he was speaking through a mask. "Sasuke, I've come here, to do two things."

"Arrgh...w-who the hell are you?" I spat, my left eye was sealed shut from the pain pulsing down my body.

"I'm a messenger Sasuke and I have something for you." For a moment, the pain eased up and I let out a relieved sigh. His gloved fist glided past my face and when it opened up....

I freaked... on the inside.

He had a needle, and at that moment, I was forcibly reminded that I didn't like needles. Wait...no, it was a syringe, and inside the cylinder was slightly luminescent purple liquid. His other hand grabbed my own and abruptly ripped my clenched fist open. He placed the syringe in my hand.

"Make sure you don't shoot yourself with that needle... just yet." His hands were like cold iron against my skin, and the suddenly, he let go.

What the fuck?

A quickly as he'd come, he was gone. Vainly, I spun around, hoping to catch him with a rotating backhand as he backed away. It didn't surprise me that my hand past right through thin air, but it did surprise me that I could still hear his voice.

"We'll stay in touch Sasuke." Those were his final words before his echoing voice faded away. I didn't react for several seconds, I just sat there, staring at the glowing liquid in my palm. It radiated strength, the malevolent kind. I wanted to toss it, but something kept me from doing so... some weird undertow that couldn't fight.

It turns out.... I was right, I was prey.

But just who was the predator?

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Konoha certainly had a way of hiding things, especially from those residing within. Despite the recent epidemic, the villagers seemed to be quite oblivious to the countless numbers of Shinobi flooding the streets and rooftops. It made him wonder.

A little brown haired kid zipped past him, reveling in the bliss that was his youth, he was at his happiest. Technically Naruto wasn't much older, he looked to be at least ten, but mentally, Naruto was not a child in any sense of the word.

The bomb fiasco had passed by relatively quickly, an ephemeral thing, it came and was gone in a flash. When he reported back to The Third, the atmosphere had been... invariably tense. Mizuki yelled, drawled on about how he would get out an receive the curse mark from Orochimaru. Bad idea. Simply using the words "Curse" and"Mark" was enough to elicit a "proper" response from Anko. It was a funny response, not on Mizuki's part though, but very funny indeed.

He could have sworn that he'd seen a darkened patch on the chuunin's groin when Anko grabbed him and raised him in the air. "Calm down." He remembered saying futilely for what seemed like an eternity. Once Mizuki had been successfully pried from Anko's hands--and she had an iron grip-- he was shipped to Ibiki where his screams could be easily heard reverberating throughout the building. Ensuing that, what was left of Mizuki had been taken to a prison just outside of Konoha that was just a little north Tanzaku town. Essentially, the prison was isolated and almost in the direct line of Konoha's sight.

He wasted no time, conveying the intelligence taken from Yasatoru to the Hokage, the old man listened attentively, announcing that whatever he decided to do with that information he would be sure that it would not involve Naruto directly. He had good reason for it too.

"Naruto... you're still a genin, and you have a team. For now... stay with them I doubt that their harmony is in good shape without the third member of their party." That was bull shit, but admittedly, Naruto couldn't rebuke his words anyway, compared to the Hokage's decision to not involve him in a would-be counter attack, his choice to kill the second agent was several times worse and frowned upon. But that did not by any means mean that he regretted blowing the guy's head off. So he just stayed silent and went back inside his shell.

All of that happened yesterday though, now... now he was walking... towards his team.

It stared early in the morning.

He spotted Shino first, then Hinata. Kurenai sensei stood in between them, a hand on each of their shoulders.

"Kurenai-sensei, Hinata-ch...san," he waited long enough for the air to get awkward before he finally added, "Aburame."

Shino adjusted his glasses. "Uzumaki." He responded bitterly.

Hinata simply blinked, glancing at both her male teammates... and sighed.

Kurenai interjected, suddenly appearing between them and plucking them both in the head. Shino rubbed his nose, Naruto simply popped out of existence with a loud expulsion of smoke. A few seconds later he jogged back around the corner, smiling.

"I knew you would do that." He said jauntily.

"Well, it's good to see that everyone's lively this morning."

They all looked up at their sensei, she smiled.

"And it's a good thing to, because we have a mission. it's a C-rank. It will require us to leave the village, it should last about a week, maybe longer."

Shino looked impassive, he adjusted his glasses. He remembered all those tedious D-rank missions that they had had imposed on them, those were boring, he was beginning to wonder whether or not he would see anything worthwhile. A C-rank would be a nice change in pace.

Kurenai continued. "A village near our border with Rain has been having some trouble with some animals attack their cattle and even in some cases going after the villagers themselves. Our missions is to guard, track, and eliminate the animals responsible." She tapped her chin. "Think of this as an assassination mission, much like a Jounin would get, only the target is an animal of some kind. Also it'll give us a chance to trial our stealth and teamwork."

She got worried by the way Naruto's eyes twinkled at the thought of killing... and by the way Shino adjusted his glasses. No doubt they were both suppressing the urge.

"Ano, Kurenai-sensei what is the village?" Hinata asked, taking nervous glances once more at her two teammates outright thirst for battle.

"The village is Tomahigiro, a tiny and not very productive village near a river. Naruto I want you to get some maps and hunting gear Hinata you get poisons and... medicine, , and Shino you get a selection of traps. You'll all need to bring camping gear and some food that would be suitable for up to," she looked up, "two weeks in the wild."

They all nodded seriously.

"The area's pretty wet, so we'll be doing some special training once we get there. It's similar to the tree walking exercise that I taught you a couple weeks ago," she indicated Shino and Hinata.

"Water walking?" Naruto sort of clarified.

"Yes, you already know that so this is exclusive for these two."

Hinata seemed a little confused. "I've never heard of walking on water before sensei, exactly how similar is it to tree walking?" Kurenai chuckled.

"You will know once we get there, 'kay?"

Hinata just nodded, her lower lip curled slightly into what Naruto would have defined as a girlish pout. It was cute, but Konoe's was cuter... not that he thought of it in 'that' type of way. He shook his head, Anko had been influencing him a bit too much lately. And he was supposed to be the one probing her mind, maybe it really was the other way around. Before now... he'd never really noticed it but... women were... intriguing beings. Before he payed attention to their more obvious assets; their breast, waist sizes, beauty, their butts, you know... the essentials. But he'd never really taken the time to actually sit and explore the female mind, it wasn't something he'd had never had an interest in, but ever since meeting Anko...well...

Why Ojii-san, why? Why had kept his mind away from the wonders of the female mind for so long...

He thought about it for a minute, he might not have been as strong as he was. Well played Sarutobi, well played.

Kurenai stuck her finger into the air, her red eyes light up, glowing. "Oh and one more thing, you guys might want to prepare yourselves. We don't know what we will see, anything could happen. They say nobody even has an idea as to what the animals are, every incident, the animals or occasional person had been torn to bits. I don't know what type of savage beast could do something, but keep this in mind; what ever it is, it is not tamed. Some of you _may_ get hurt." She loomed over Hinata and Shino darkly.

It was just a joke, but maybe she'd elucidated it too well because Hinata looked as if she was repressing a strong urge to faint at the moment. Kurenai pulled back, her eyes loosing their light and rested her hands on her hips.

"Yosh, now prepare yourself, gather your supplies and... stay calm." She eyed Hinata, who, when the boys weren't looking, nodded slowly.

She was such a good sensei. Now if she could just get Naruto to stop staring at Hinata like that...

Better yet, let him be.

Yup... good sensei.

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I don't really feel like speaking much so I'll be brief.

Many thanks to Nugar, the whole Anbu list thing with Ibiki not being able to break Anko... all him... So thank you.

Thank you all, who helped me get passed my 200 hundred review mark, really appreciate it. Anyway, I just want to say, that this chapter was a little... disappointing in my opinion, it didn't seem compact enough to me, but hey, you be the judge. Hopefully you can get me to at least 235+ reviews. And if you see that I have already gotten past my 235 review mark... please still review. I want to see how far you guys can get me, so I'm counting you guys, shoot me through the sky.

Anyway.

Latr and Thanx

Next chapter: Strategies of the Vanguard

GrIm'S sTePpIn' OuT


	8. Strategies of The Vanguard

Hello again

So I hoped enjoyed the last chapter of the story. I hope everything was pieced together to everyone's liking, you know because I really hate reading stories were the topics are desultory and have no connection whatsoever to each other. So here's something that I've been tinkering with, that concept of connection. I want to make it so that it feels like everyone in the story is connect by at least one or more linking factor. You, connections like partnerships, siblings, cousins, friends, lovers. Anything actually.

So I ask you, the readers, have I done a good enough job at portraying that whole concept of connection within the text of my story? It's just something to think about, if you want to respond, you can either PM me or tell me what you think in a review. Like most authors I prefer the answer in a review, but hey whatever floats your boat.

Now, what you may notice is that during this chapter I did something a little _different_. I hope that you all like the surprises that I have in here. And I know that it has been a long time, so I really tried to give you guys as much suspense as I could... without going moving forward at all with the plot. Seriously, I revealed almost nothing about what was going to happen next. You'll see exactly what I mean when you read. So..uh... read!

Anyway I have not that much to say so...

_"Violence is always the answer, if it doesn't work then you simply haven't used enough of it"-- _The life motto of a sadist.

Enjoy, and maybe that sadist we were speaking about won't find you. Or maybe he will?

* * *

She remembered that day clearly, she remembered everything with such disturbing clarity that it frightened every fiber of her being. That day when Anko-sensei... wasn't herself, that day when they were attack... and scarred, possibly for life. She had woken up with the strongest headache she'd ever had, and quite strangely she still clutched Konoe's leg like a plush doll. Her vision blared, and she was vaguely aware of the fact that she was being watched. By deadly eyes.

How long had they been asleep? She asked herself, she contemplated on asking her sister, but Konoe herself was still lost in the oneiric realm of sleep. It wouldn't be too long before she woke up.

First off, the white feathery landscape had come and gone like it was nothing, like it wasn't even real. And given her position right now, she doubted that it even was. She remembered the way the feathers fell from the warm heavens and swirled around her, their soft texture caressing every inch of her naked body. That was strange, she'd been naked in her dream, that hadn't happened since...never mind.

After she came to, Sanae wasted no time waking her sister, stirring her awake with a few steady but violent thrust.

"Huh, what... appened?" Konoe yawned out, by his time her leg was free from Sanae's clutch.

"I don't know, I just felt really sleepy all of a sudden." Sanae replied. The wind blew, enticing the hairs on the back of her neck to stand, sending a cold chill down her spine. The wind was creepy, a little ominous too.

"Where's-"

Konoe was cut off by the ten foot long viper lashing in between them, it passed by with a hiss, a second later it retracted back to its master's sleeve.

"A-anko-sensei?" They turned their heads.

Anko's eyes, set on them, were slitted, feral, yet she smiled as of nothing was out of the ordinary.

"Anko-sensei...w-what the hell just happened. And what happened to that Anbu guy?" Sanae blurted out.

Anko peered at the distance, her now golden eyes glistening with the sun's light. It took Sanae a moment to realize this, a few squints to be exact. "Anko-sensei...you're eyes." That's when Anko sneered, her grin taking on a predatory feature. That was beginning to creep her out. She'd thought that she had seen all of Anko's outre mannerisms, many of which she'd just ignored, but this-...

This was taking creepy to an entirely different level, another dimension even.

"You." Anko simply said, not looking at her but pointing at Konoe. Sanae had a bad feeling about the way Anko pointed at her sister, reflexively her body tensed, her mind raced, preparing to think up a thousand and one ways to escape if needed. Her sister did the same as well.

"Me?"

"Come, let's train, I want to do a little experiment." She turned her neck, letting it hang to the side creepily as an abnormally long tongue slithered out of her mouth. It stretched down long enough to lick the bottom of her coat, then it struck.

"Wha-OHHH SHIT," Konoe rolled out of the way just in time to avoid getting impaled--if that was even possible--by Anko's deadly tongue. It stuck in the ground--maybe it was possible--,dripping with saliva and over-exposed taste buds. This was weird, last time she checked, tongues didn't stretch out that far.

"Konoe, move!" Sanae's voice broke her out of her shock. Anko reared her arm back, and of course, a large spotted brown and black snake erupted from her sleeve and hissed at her.

"Shit!" Was all Sanae could say before she drove herself to her feet. Instinctively, she ran away from her deranged excuse for a teacher, who wouldn't? Her foot hit a patch of unusually soft ground and she hurled herself forward before her sensei's tongue could wrapped its slimy body around her leg.

The center of the village, that was the safest place to be right now.

"What's wrong with her?" Sanae yelled frantically, as she caught up with her sister

"How the hell am I supposed to know that?" Konoe replied. Behind them, Anko's snake and mutant tongue slithering back to where they belonged was the last thing they saw before the verdant obscurity of green trees invaded their ken. The trees were always good cover, but considering who they were up against, it may have just as well been an intricate trap. It was still worth trying.

"THAT WAS NOT ANKO!" Sanae yelled. They raced through the underbrush, then jumped, ascending higher and higher through the tree branches as they hopped. In an act of desperation, they used elevation to their advantage, eliminating some of the more effective angles of attack so that Anko would not be unable to attack from above without them seeing or hearing it.

"You think I don't know that!?" Konoe yelled back frantically. From past sessions, they learned that an aerial assault was not their sensei's style, she was the underground type.

Sanae cringed, something touched her leg, it was slimy. "We've got company!" Anko's tongue lashed out once again, from beneath them, wrapping itself around Sanae; she screamed long and hard as the tendril-like appendage dragged her down to the underbrush.

"No!" Konoe yelled from the canopy, watching her sisters face disappear into the inky depths of the dense greenery below; she stopped, hitting a branch with the sole of her foot abruptly and bounded backward so that she was just above Sanae's initial position.

_Hisssss_

Golden eyes opened from the darkness below and the same large brown black-spotted snake from before flew up toward her. Instinct alone told her to dig into her weapons pouch and hurl two shuriken that buried themselves into the reptile's eye sockets. It hissed with pain and veered off course, Konoe took this as a chance to act.

Gravity pulled her down toward the blinded reptile, and she grabbed another kunai from her pouch. Passing the snake's head, she stuck the kunai out, digging the blade into its body, using it as a means to slow her descent and filleted the reptile from the side of its mouth down to its mid belly. Blood splattered behind her and rained down on her head, but that didn't matter, all that mattered was her sister.

Konoe stuck her feet out, spotting the brown of Anko's trench coat. Her sensei's eyes came fast, faster than she had predicted they would and before she knew it, her ninja sandals were planting themselves into her sensei's face. Oddly, Anko smiled and her tongue, coiling around Konoe's knees, didn't distract Konoe from the fact that Sanae was struggling to free herself in her sensei's right arm.

With the force of Konoe's kick, Anko bent back a full ninety degrees at the waist with a sickening crack of bone, inhuman.

"Let go!" Sanae yelled freeing herself just enough to grab Konoe's kunai and stab her sensei in the shoulder. Anko dropped her, and Sanae wasted no time in using the same kunai to stab at her sensei's tongue which let go of Konoe's leg, instantly. It was as if that thing had a literal mind of its own, it moved, acted, even attacked like a snake!

Despite tactics being their metier, neither Konoe nor Sanae could think of anything to do but run. But they didn't have to think of about running, Anko would make them do it whether they wanted to or not.

Anko stood straight again, giggling madly, piping the same sing-song words she'd been saying this whole time. "Experiment, experiment!"

She cocked her arm back and swung, neither of the two sisters could tell what she did but they felt it, as both their bodies were thrown back several meters into the trees by an invisible wall of...wind, as they had become well informed at the moment.

"Run!" Sanae yelled, the instant she landed on a branch far away from her sister, she almost slipped, but the thick trunk served as something to hold herself on. "Run to the center of the village!" She spun around, flinging a volley of kunai and shuriken down at Anko, two of which kunai had explosive tags wrapped around their hilts, and made a series of hand seals, ending in tori.

"Shuriken kage bunshin no jutsu!" (1)

For a moment, the kunai flickered, and then they multiplied before raining down on Anko in a pelt of steel rain. The weapons flying down at Anko were so many that Sanae couldn't even spot Anko in the fray anymore, all she saw was a sheet of black steel. Sanae sighed, slumping down when she felt the slight decrease in her chakra reserves after using the technique. When the rain of kunai ended Anko was nowhere to be seen, instead, a rather large python, occupied her previous space wrapping itself around her body, kunai and shuriken protruded from bloody ruptures in its scales. It looked at Sanae then dropped, dead. Anko did not even spare it a second glance, she simply stepped over the crumpled heap of reptile and glared at them with the eyes of a murderer. For a moment, Sanae's legs were locked in place, she felt like she'd just been stabbed.

So that was what the intent to kill felt like, previously Anko-- when she was normal, if she could ever be called that-- made such a big deal about killing intent that it simply drove her insane.

Now she knew what the fuss was about. Partially, her attack had seemed to be in vain, many of the shuriken, applied in a blind rush had embedded themselves into the bark of numerous tree trunks, this certainly wasn't good terrain to be hurling clouds of kunai and shuriken at a person. She knew it, but she was desperate.

"Experiment, I think that I'll try one on you too!" Anko shrieked, "Hahaha, isn't this fun?" She asked with crazed glee, there was nothing funny though, yet Sanae herself smiled as she made one half-handed ram seal. Two kunai exploded at Anko's feet, blasting dust and debris all over the place. A cloud of smoke rose from the ground, the grass below was singed and the trees were charred from the blast.

_"No snakes to protect you now!" _She roared defiantly

But that didn't matter, because Anko didn't really need the protection. The crazed sensei blasted through the smoke, some of it trailing behind her, and flew threw the gaps of the trees heading for Sanae, she extended her hand as if to grab her. Sanae cringed as she got closer, pinned down with fear.

"Hell no!" A voice screamed from above. In between the gap of two trees that was in Anko's path, dozens of little wires reflected the light, still attached to the many kunai stuck in some of the trees. It created a small but undeniably Anko-sized daedal net of wire, the thin kind too. Sanae smirked, feigning vulnerability was such a good ability and a very useful battle tactic. But now she was beginning to wonder whether or not she was actually acting. Konoe, who was above in the trees tugged violently on her end of the thin wire, they glowed in the light; these were the thin kind of wire, the _really _thin kind. The kind so thin that if one were to run into something, say...like a _net_ of these wires, one would literally be sliced to pieces.

It appears that you understand their plan well enough.

Anko only laughed at their attempt, it was a good one, but she wasn't the one thinking that. To avoid becoming a dozen slabs of fresh meat, their sensei sent forth two snakes from her sleeves and latched on to the tree next to her, the same tree Konoe was in.

Sanae barely had anytime to warn her sister either, from up there, Konoe's field of vision was limited, which was why she didn't see Anko running up the tree with an inhuman quality. She sort of... slithered up it, but with her legs and arms, circling the tree a couple times during her ascension.

"Konoe look-" She yelled but Anko was already on her, running along the branch, driving a knee into her stomach followed by an elbow that flung her off the branch. She plummeted head first, and Sanae moved to act, but just as quickly as Anko had run up the tree, she was running down it, so fast that she passed Konoe before she hit the ground and...caught her..... Why?

Slowly Anko's head turned toward Sanae, her eyes flashing back to their original gray-teal for a moment before going back to gold. Anko growled and flung Konoe to the side, she hit a tree trunk with enough force to knock the wind out of her. She clutched her stomach, gagging, wheezing, gasping for air. Something had broken.

"Who are you?!" Sanae yelled, "Why Anko-sensei, what's wrong with you?!"

Anko only chuckled, "Absolutely nothing!" She said as she formed one hand seal, the ground underneath Konoe warped, actually for a moment it fluctuated, taking on the appearance of water and slowly, she was swallowed by the ground.

"NOOOOO!" Sanae shrieked.

"Come find me, if you can... my student." Anko said before finally sinking into the ground as well. Her laughter echoed ominously. As she had previously said before, Anko was an underground person.

Sanae sat there, crouched high in the tree, her mouth open in complete shock and disbelief. Anko... had just _taken_ her sister.

She needed to find her, fast! If Konoe died, she didn't know what she'd do, but she did know that she would do anything to find her right now. Even if that meant endangering her life; it was set, she was going to find them, she would find Anko.

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Apparently, Anko, or whoever this person was, thought that this was all one big game. She'd actually had to audacity to put markers, through the forest leading to her position. Anko was cruel, and sometimes sadistically lucid, but never to this degree, there had to be some rational explanation to her actions. Kami forbid that this was who Anko really was, as much as it seemed to be the more and more plausible thought, Sanae found herself shaking her mind away from that thought.

All of the markers she'd found had all said the same thing, "this way to see the experiment!", followed by an arrow pointing in a specific direction. Anko was fucking with her mind, and it was clearly working, as of now she was furious. And to make things worse, she felt like Anko needed to die, never once had she given in to the psyche altering mental modifications of blood lust... until now.

She was like a wild animal, running through the trees with about as much noise as possible. Blood lust or not, she could still think, and even better, she could do it intelligently. She needed a plan, a carefully selected series of actions that would get her sister back. But things were easier thought up then they were acted out, she was still at a disadvantage. There were several factors missing from Sanae's knowledge, what exactly was the extent of Anko's power, where exactly were they, what was the terrain like, how close was it to the public, questions, questions. All of them needed to be answered and unfortunately, she was at a loss for words.

This would be hard.

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Following the markers had brought her two things: a severe case of anxiety and the knowledge of Anko's whereabouts. She was lead directly to the mouth of a dank cave dug into the side of a rocky hill , which if only a little, smelled of blood. She didn't really know how she recognized the smell of blood but she just did, it seemed that the more time she'd been around Anko the higher her tolerance and aptitude for the smell of blood was becoming.

She stepped into the cave, almost immediately she was swallowed by the darkness. With each step she took deeper into the cave, the light at the entrance seemed to get smaller. The fear she felt.... it was overwhelming, even as focused on the thought of getting her sister. Her legs shook with involuntary quakes.

She was scared alright. Scared of what might happen to her, scared of what might have already happened to her sister. She wasn't entirely blind though. The light, as long as it maintained itself, served as her guide. She could only barely discern the jagged triangular contours of the many stalactites and stalagmites jutting forth from the ground and ceiling. She froze, a terrifying thought occurred.

_She was in the dark. _

_She was alone._

_And something was slithering behind her!_

Her reflexes forced her legs to move and her body was up and in the air with one soundless thrust, she stuck to the hard ceiling like glue. Below, she heard the soft underbelly of a lime green python scrape against the cave floor below, barely discernible, its tail slithered into the darkness.

She narrowed her eyes, sentries, Anko was a Jonin after all. It would make sense for her to be prepared, and if she weren't so scared, she'd say that her sensei's plan was pretty smart. Primarily, snakes hunted by smell and taste, their especially forked tongues allowed for them to gain a new directional sense, like simultaneous smell and taste all wrapped in one. In this dark cave, where vision mattered not, snakes were ultimate.

Her arms wrapped tightly around a moist stalactite. She waited for a few and when not a sound could be heard, she dropped back down and continued down the long tunnel. Sanae pressed herself against the walls, hard pressed to not let her breathing get too rowdy. Every few minutes, another snake would be pass by and she'd already be hidden by the time they slithered past. Just in case Anko had anymore snakes patrolling the place she stopped every few seconds to observe what little perception she had of her surroundings. Pretty much, she saw... nothing, nothing but black and the occasional passing by of glittery scales.

The snakes didn't even make an attempt to hide themselves, they just passed on by without the slightest drop of discreetness. Either Anko was trying to scare her, or she was just so confident in her ability that she felt that she didn't need to be discreet. Considering all that had happened, the answer may have been both possibilities

Eventually the light faded away and she'd stood there for a while, contemplating on whether or not to turn back or further descend down into the deep network of tunnels she had thrown herself into. She walked even slower now, robbed by the darkness of her eyesight, tripping, slipping, gagging from the growing smell of...

_Konoe..._

She refused to think about what that smell may have been.

Strangely, she found herself abundant with the gift of sight once more, the sole reason being an odd greenish glow around the corner of another tunnel. There weren't any voices so she assumed that it was safe to take that route, but she could never be too sure of her genius...

Reflexively, she reached for a kunai, as a matter of fact she palmed two... just to be safe. She hit the corner with minimal sound, quickly lunging out and firing off her weapon at her target. The kunai pinged loudly. Unsurprisingly, her "target" just so happened to be a rock, a luminescent rock at that. It glowed with a sickly green color, illuminating that section of the cavern, down the tunnel she could see dozens of other rocks strewn about, all of them glowing ominously like that, all of them placed in an order that seemed to be going in one general direction.

"Phosphorous?" Well, she'd found a new light source, despite it being a light radiating element that glowed green when exposed to oxygen. She _did_ see the crude walkway the element covered rocks formed, she saw the deposits practically telling her to follow... and she _did_ follow.

Fear and all, Konoe was much more important.

The voice came next, sweet feminine, familiar, while at the same time... saturated with blood lust.

"She's down there." Anko said from behind her.

"W-whaAAAA, SHIT!" Sanae yelled, instantly turning, backpedaling away from her sensei. Anko's eyes seemed to glow within the pitch darkness, they even overpowered the glow from the phosphoric deposits lining the walls. Sanae didn't want to look at those eyes, too afraid to even glance at them. So she ran, flying down the glowing tunnel walkway with speed that the rare mixture of fear and adrenaline could generate.

Konoe....

Konoe....

Konoe...

Where was she? Was Anko telling the truth, was she really there at the end of this tunnel, waiting for her? What had Anko done?

Sanae found out soon enough. The fear gripping her.... as she ran...._ it was terrifying. _She bit into her lip absently, unaware that she was drawing blood. Most people avoided the light at the end of the tunnel, in this cause though, it was the exact opposite. She thrust herself into it. And what she saw.... to say the least.

...._wasn't pretty._

First off, this cave was much larger than she'd perceived it to be. The cavern she'd walked into, huge in comparison to the smaller tunnels weaving themselves around it, was at least forty feet high. The ceiling, much like the tunnels, covered to the brim with ghastly stalactites that stretched down to connect with the occasional stalagmite. There was light, much more light. The room looked more like the site of some arcane ritual; a set of stairs rose, leading onto a plateau.

Along the floors and walls were carved these strange and unknown symbols, all of which Sanae had no idea what the meanings were. In the center of the cavern, encircling the plateau spread out in a perfect circle, where nine torches were, in the middle of that lay Konoe. She was strapped to the floor by iron shackles at her wrist and ankles. Her shirt, split and cut down the middle, left her chest exposed where Sanae could only begin to see the red flesh from the many cuts that Anko had _carefully_ carved along her skin.

"N-NO!"

Konoe's body was limp, dangling, inanimate, devoid of motion, ... bloody, dare she say think it.... possibly "de-." Her thoughts were brought to an abrupt stop when her sister sputtered, convulsing in a wild bit of coughs and gags. Like wildfire, the relief spread throughout her body and immediately, it was doused by dread.

Sanae had never found it harder to simply _breath_ than she'd ever had at that one moment. Her eyes locked in place... directly onto the hissing maw of a rather massive pitch black viper as it prepared to sink its three inch fangs into her unconscious sister's exposed neck. Before she could open her mouth to say anything, that same wave of paralyzing consternation washed over her. She could feel Anko standing right behind her and if that wasn't enough of a heads up, Anko was laughing.

"Amazing isn't he, his name is Mandria. Truly sui generis, the only of his kind, a drake." Anko snapped and Mandria, whom she had now been properly introduced to, looked up. His eyes were the brightest green she'd ever seen, two slitted pupils of emerald fury and instinct. It--he--hissed, causing Sanae's eyebrows to pull up. What was that..._ resiliency_?

Mandria dipped it's diamond-shaped head down once more, barring its gleaming fangs. The look on Anko's face, unseen to Sanae, freely expressed her insanity. The insane grin on her face widened as Mandria's fangs neared Konoe's pale, smooth, neck.

_It would be done! The ritual would be consummated, Mandria would be complete!_

Suddenly she found it hard to breath once more, to think, to even exist, In a situation like this, what was she to do. Genius or not, she felt pretty stupid at that moment.

Air burst from her lungs, scrapping against her throat; it only took her a few seconds to realize that she was screaming like a lunatic. Lost in her own little dimension of panic, Sanae ran._ She needed to leave, to get out of her_e! But what about Konoe?

She couldn't leave!

Just then, she denied every single urge to simply grab Anko and proceed to mutilate her. Images raced through her mind, all of them depicting scenes where she tore Anko's body apart limb by limb in a simply spectacular, bloody spray. Sanae could not deny it, the blood lust was back, and she was replete with it. Angrily she wiped the tears from her eyes and sprinted back, not caring whether or not Anko decided to strike with one of her wretched snakes at that moment. All that mattered was her sister.

The kunai fit easily into her palm as she charged forth, her vision faltering with every frizzy strand of hair that flew in front of her eyes. If she remembered correctly, she'd never, EVER, run that fast in her life.

Her foot slammed into Mandria's entire head before he even got to touch Konoe, sending the voracious reptile flying away. She could hear it shrieking, "Do something idiot!" It yelled. As quickly as it was gone, Anko was on her, her eyes glowed with golden luster and she hissed much like a snake. That didn't bother Sanae though, her anger clouded her mind, it was fuel, the nostrum for a her previous dread.

Wildly, she whipped her kunai, overhead, beheading the first snake that struck out at her, and snarled like a madwoman. Metal flashed, reflecting the orange glow of the torches as she spun and sliced and probed with her kunai, even pulling a second one out to increase her chances of landing at hit. Through it all, Anko was calm... perhaps too calm.

Her barrage of steel ended when Anko grabbed her wrist, bending it back, "You know, I was planning on only sacrificing one of you to Mandria, I had intended to kill you but...-" her voice trailed off, and she bent Sanae's wrist back more, bringing the enraged girl to her knees. "-...I think he'll enjoy two meals today, after all, dying by his bite hurts all the more."

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Passing out was so NOT cool, it definitely was not a trend that a lot of Shinobi liked to follow, but as you can see Sanae and Konoe preferred to go against the trend. When Konoe woke up, the world was upside down. A few seconds later her mind reoriented herself and she realized that she was partially naked, upside down, and strapped onto an unusual, oddly star shaped skeletal frame. Anko sure had made sure that she wouldn't be going anywhere. All movement was rendered useless by leather straps pulled so tightly that they dug into the skin; they were strapped to her ankles, wrists, and her horizontally to her abdomen. Her movement was severely limited, if not completely cut off by the arcane contraption.

"You whore, let us go!" That was Sanae, and she sound enraged.

Her vision was still pretty blurry so she couldn't see all that well; and obviously, moving her hand up to rub her eyes was out of the question. So she waited until her vision slowly, very slowly, regained clarity and she could see again. Sanae's face was the first thing she saw, behind her, Anko wrapped her arms around her sister, her long tongue snaking close to her neck, threatening to touch her with its slimy "goodness". The thought of Anko "tasting" her with that freaky tongue of hers was enough to make her shudder, well she would have if she'd been able to move.

"Aww, Sanae-chan, you don't like Anko sensei anymore?" Anko piped, giving Sanae a little lick underneath the chin.

"Screw you!"

"Fufufufufu, what a disrespectful mouth you've got on you here. That's a bit dangerous you know." Anko teased, Sanae didn't stop, she simply insulted her more.

Through it all Konoe stayed silent, biding her time, hopefully, she could observe and spot, if there were any, flaws in the little set up that Anko had put them in. She didn't move, barely opening her eyes to help further increase the facade of unconsciousness that she'd put on. But it was kind of hard to act, observe, _and_ analyze while you were upside down. It wasn't impossible though.

"At least tell us, why you're doing this." Sanae said, for a moment her eyes flicked down to Konoe's and their gazes met, only for a second though. Konoe listened attentively, despite the blood rush to her head.

Anko laughed, it wasn't her normal laugh, it was tainted with the deep and creepy baritone of a man's voice. Sanae's jaw, nearly dropped from the shock. "W-what the fuck are you?" She said.

"You're worst nightmare," Anko said in her new masculine voice, "Anyway, you're about to die, so I shall tell you what I plan. Firstly, I'll introduce myself, the REAL me." Sanae flouted him.

"Oh, don't tell me you're some freaky old spirit who loves to take over the bodies of young hot women, so that you can run wild and live out your fantasy of abducting little girls." Sanae smirked. It was amazing how insouciant Sanae could be about all this, herself, being the reticent sister would have never have said something like this to the dangerous, and outright hostile snake... lady? Man? Whatever.

"You see," the strange thing inhabiting Anko's body went on, "I want something, rather I want someone to help me get something."

"You mind sharing what that something is?" Sanae.

"Immortality," Anko said suddenly, extending her gross snake like tongue out of her mouth and licking both her lips in one big slimy rotation. "But you see, I haven't quite gotten around to a technique that will allow me to attain such status. Poor little me, huh?" She said, throwing Sanae a twisted smiled that, if she weren't trying to remain impassive at the moment, it would have totally caused her to puke.

Anko's golden eyes were beginning to creep her out even more than they had before, but what was even more bizarre was that every few seconds or so, her eyes would flash back to their original color. It was as if someone in her head was constantly flicking a light switch on and off. The period grunts and tense facial expressions that came with the labile eye color didn't go on unnoticed by Sanae as well, she was pretty sure her sister had seen it as well too.

"But that's enough about me though, I would ask you two to speak more about yourselves but-," she took a moment to laugh, "-Anko here has already has enough information about you two, and I think Mandria's getting a little impatient."

Mandria, hissed, directly next to Konoe's head. Up until now, Mandria's presence couldn't even be felt, yet, he was right her beside her. As quickly as instinct driven reflexes would allow, she closed her eyes shut. No breathing, no blinking, no movement... or else death... maybe that was putting it mildly.

"You're damn straight I'm getting impatient, now let's get down to business, I need a sacrifice!" Mandria hissed, literally. Konoe just sat there, motionless, as of now all she could do was think. Okay... what did she know about the enemy.

Well not that much; the Anko sensei in front of her obviously wasn't Anko, at least not mentally. The mental aspect of her sensei, belonged to someone else, probably someone far away, far far away. Periodically, her eyes changed color, from what she'd seen a few seconds ago, going from gold, to the original color. Possibly, that could have been a sliver of Anko's will trying to break free. That, in theory, put a limit on how much control this person had on Anko's mind, as well as form a possible hypothesis as to how the technique that was used to control Anko could be broken. All the evidence pointed to one obvious answer.

Emotion.

As for Mandria... she knew nothing about him. He was a snake, that's it. A talking snake, she'd give him that, but that was all she knew so far, there was the possibility that he was a summon, but that didn't seem to be the likely scenario. Anko didn't treat him like a summon, rather, she seemed to be devoted _to him_...odd. When Anko bowed low, bringing her head down to the ground, out of respect for Mandria, her thoughts were only strengthened.

"Mandria-sama, your two sacrifices await you. I hope that you are pleased with these two offerings." Anko, said in that same manly voice from before.

Konoe grimaced at the word "sacrifice". Perhaps she was wrong, perhaps Anko wasn't devoted to Mandria, perhaps she _worshiped_ him. Just what the hell was she dealing with then, was Mandria some type of arcane god-snake, that Anko or whoever this person was, had devoted themselves to?

Mandria hissed, she felt the cold wetness of his tongue slinky little tongue slide against her ear. Just as she felt his sharp fangs just barely prick her skin... "Open your eyes girl." She did as she was told, almost immediately she felt as if she were staring down two eternal pits of green fire that were so filled with madness that they made Anko's own sadistic tendencies seem minor.

"A fresh one eh, you've done well... Orochimaru."

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_"Konoe-chan, wake up! Come on please!"_

_"Uhhh, Orochi-..., mmm, Sasuke....trouble."_

_"W-what!"_

_"y-you're...Anbu."_

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Orochimaru was his name.

Mandria coiled around her, wrapping around Konoe's body in a spiral. He hissed, hungrily. His rictus, dripping with saliva and and purple venom that loomed dangerously close to her neck. His maw stopped right before one of his fangs pierced any skin and he turned his head to face Anko...Orochimaru.

He-she, raised her eyebrow in confusion. "Well?"

Mandria trilled, "What do you want to gain from having me dip my fangs into these two girls."

Anko's pretty face twisted into yet another ugly smile. "Please Mandria-sama, I am doing it solely for the sake of experiment, I want to test out the full effects of your bite, in order to make a proper toxin and enhance the curse seal."

A fleshy black section of skin rose above Mandria's eye. "And I supposed this is for the curse mark?" Orochimaru nodded followed by Mandria's long drawn out sigh. "Well, you should know the full effects of my bite, I've only done it once before and look how that person turned out."

"Yes I know, Jugo, and he's still a problem. But that is impertinent as of now, please, I beseech you, mark these two with your bite and allow me to observe."

Mandria dipped his head once more in compliance and opened his maw once more, releasing from it a hot steamy breath that burned Konoe's eyes.

The fang's neared.

Now how would she get out of this?

Sanae knew that answer, it was simple really, it had something to do with an old saying that their mother always told them as a joke. She remembered the words clearly, 'If you find yourself in a trap and you have no where to go, blow everything to hell!' I wasn't really funny, unless you were a Shinobi, and right now, that same shinobi humor brought a smile to Sanae's face. It was something that Orochimaru noticed rather quickly.

"Something funny girl, your sister is about to die, is it that humorous?"

"A little," Sanae chuckled, "I'm smiling because I know I'm about to do something really stupid." The chakra surged throughout her body, like a river, it flowed down to her waist, specifically the two weapon holsters' loosely dangling from them. Tensing, Sanae closed her eyes, vaguely remembering that the contents of the bag; a couple kunai, senbon, a few coils of wire, explosive tags...

Mandria froze, hearing the steady hiss of multiple explosive notes, his tongue flickered in and out. Cocking his head to the side he asked one simple question: "What's that sound?"

Then the bang came. Sanae tensed._ 'Here goes nothing!'_

Anko seemed to catch on. "You little-" she moved her slender hand to reach for the pouch, but it was too late.

What came next was one of the most unpleasant experiences that Sanae had ever had the misfortune of ever going through. Her back... for lack of a better phrase, exploded. At that moment she had already made it up in her mind, having six _very _low-grade explosive tags blow up her back was NOT fun at all. It was a desperate tactic, one that she would not be repeating anytime soon.

The pain, it was abundant, disorientation, by the carload. The metal framing she was attached to shattered as easily as glass would have, sending her flying forward where she sprawled out onto the ground in front Konoe. Anko who was also close to the epicenter of the blast, was thrust backward several...hundred... meters. Dust gained sovereignty over the cave interior, swallowing everything in one quick gluttonous shroud of black smoke that engulfed all in its path. Sanae didn't care about any of that though, the only thing that she focused on was the pain, the throbbing, bloody, fatal pain that was tearing her back to shreds.

She felt like literal mince meat. Her shirt was blown off during the explosion, currently a rain of burnt fabric falling down to the ground, exposing her back.

"Uuuuh." Sanae groaned, lying flat on her stomach. The extent of her injury was near fatal. Her own skin, she wore loosely, like a gown of incarnadine silk, that slipped off her back and onto the ground with wet, sloppy splats. Protruding from the scarred, red, wasteland that was her back was the tip of something white, bone, centered directly in the middle of her back. Her very own spinal cord was partially exposed.

Sanae shouldn't have been able to move, yet she did, her finger budged ever so slightly. Through the smoke, Konoe descried this and prepared her mouth to let out the dread filled yell that was so desperately trying to claw its way out of her lungs. One thing stopped her though, the sound of Sanae's voice.

It sounded muffled. "Don't...yell out, he'll notice you." She said.

She rose her brow, who, who would notice her her? Just then, she saw the black outline of Mandria slither past her, somewhere in the affray he had gotten blow back by the impact of the blast as well. Hell, even she felt a violent budge from the brace restraining her. That was when she saw her sister's suicidal plan made sense

Snakes used their smell to hunt, but by exploding several tags, she could make a fair amount of smoke. If a snake could only taste smoke in the air, and feel heat coming from all directions, then it couldn't hunt. Now she understood, she didn't blow herself up to free herself, she did it to save Konoe.

But that left her at a standstill, Sanae had sacrificed to keep Mandria from sinking his fangs into her, but....

"Now what?" Konoe said, letting her head hang low. She was still in this brace, she still couldn't move, she was still upside down. And worst of all she was still devoid of a plan. She had absolutely no clue what to do now, Sanae had brought her halfway, now she needed to take them the rest of the way. She couldn't do a thing, she was a helpless little animal and when the smoke cleared she'd be dead.

Never to see the light of day again. Konoe sniffled, clenching her teeth as a salty tear dripped down from her forehead. She didn't care anymore! She didn't! Sanae hurt herself in vain, they were both going to die here, without ever seeing their mother, or their father, or even Naruto...

She hadn't even gotten to tell him how much she liked him.

Konoe let the tears flow freely, her vision going watery as she sobbed. Bad idea, in fact... it was the worst idea.

"What's this, are those tears I smell?" Mandria's voice came from somewhere distant in the smoke. Apparently, he'd been blown away by the blast. Previously he'd been lost, but with all her crying and sobbing, she had basically pinpointed herself for him.

Her eyes widened, and her teeth pressed together so harshly with fear that they almost cracked.

Shit! She thought. She had been found. But she was going to die anyway... so why was she still so afraid? Did she really have some hope that she'd survive this situation somehow? Of course she did.

"Where are you?" Mandria trilled within the smoke, she heard the dry scrapping of his belly against the floor as he slithered past her.

_'Don't move...don't move, don't even think!'_ She thought to herself as she waited for the pitch black reptile to pass. But he wasn't, he wasn't passing... he was simply sitting there. Had he found her?

"Ah... there you are girl." Konoe widened her eyes. Mandria wasn't talking to her! He was talking to her sister! "Well, I suppose I would have preferred you when you were in better shape but this will have to do." The snake said highhandedly. She couldn't see her sister anymore due to the smoke, so Mandria was out of sight as well, but she knew that he was right in front of her. She could feel it.

Fuck! What was she going to do? Dammit, dammit! She only had one thing _to_ do. She didn't want to but she had to. She needed to save her sister. Shakily she opened her mouth... and yelled out at the top of her lungs.

"I'm over here you slimy worm! Come on... bite me!" The hiss was audible as Mandria turned his head toward Konoe. She knew it now, he was looking at her, she couldn't see it but she didn't have to see to believe. After this... she was very much a believer.

She _heard_ Mandria hiss loudly.

She _heard _Mandria lunge at her.

But what she didn't expect to hear was the sound of the snake...choking?

"W-what? What's going on?" She asked desperately into the smog which was slowly clearing up.

Konoe's jaw's dropped, the smog cleared, and she was frantically trying to tell her mind that what she was seeing was real. Sanae was....

She was...

Her sister had her fingers wrapped tightly just below Mandria's head. She was choking the snake!(I'm sorry but that reminds me of masturbation, just saying.) Mandria hissed loudly, again and again, spewing his saliva all over her hand. He squirmed even more, managing to slip out a couple of inches. But a couple of inches was all that he needed, all that it took for him to twist his head around and stab his fangs right into the insanely burned skin of Sanae's forearm.

Without restraint she let out a panicked shriek from her lungs. Konoe watched in horror still unable to move as she witnessed her sister's arm begin to convulse.

The air tore through her lungs, and her mind registered it as screaming. She was wailing, howling, whatever you wanted to call it, whatever it was she knew she was doing it at the top of her lungs. Singly, lances of pain stabbed at her arm. Mandria's bite was... unnatural.

"Sanae! Sanae, I'm here concentrate on my voice!" Konoe barked, vainly trying to solace her sister in anyway that she could, and considering her current position, she didn't have many options.

Sanae clawed at the ground, her eyes opening and closing against her will, her lips seemed to be permanently pried open. She was gasping for air, hungering for it even. Slowly her scream died down until it was nothing more but a shrill expulsion of air passing her lips.

"K-k-konoe...I c-can't...."

"No!" Konoe was bawling now, her tears streaming down, rather up her face and onto the ground. "You can't die... y-you can't! Sanae....please....just-" She stopped talking. Just what was she supposed to say, hey don't die? This wasn't some little fairy tail, or some cartoon where the two damsels in distress were saved by a knight in shining armor. This was reality, nobody would come to their aid. Nobody even knew that they were here.

The skin on Sanae's arm had gone from sandy white to outright purple, leaving behind a fervid and pulsing lump on her arm that oozed a mysterious purple luminescent liquid. She was dying, she was going to die and it was all her fault! Why did she have to be so useless, why couldn't she help?

After a couple more minutes of convulsing and Mandria's cackling Sanae stopped moving, going limp like a rag doll. The twinkle in her eyes died, dulling out like a dying light bulb.

That's when the fear hit her full force and left her struggling to get out of the insanely tight brace, she wanted to...needed to be by her sister. Was she dead? Was she dead for real...was she all alone? What dreadful Kami could have cursed her with such an ill fate, to witness her own sister's slow, painful death right before own eyes? It was like shrapnel to the mind, mentally damaging, it stabbed and sat there, festering intensely. Her eyes twitched, uncontrollably...

But she couldn't cry anymore. She'd already lost that ability ten seconds ago, the part of her that could cry just now died along with her sister.

Mandria turned his sleek head toward her then. She didn't react... she simply stared into his verdant eyes. "Now you." he piped. His tongue came dangerously close to her ear as he coiled around her for the second time. She did not resist. After the brief spiral of scales his head rested right next to hers. "You know... you smell delicious... I'll enjoy this," he said right before raising his head and sinking his fangs into her arm."

The pain came instantly. Make it stop... make it stop! Nope, this suffering was hers exclusively. She bit her lip harshly, the taste of her own blood drowned out the sound of her muffled screams. At least to her anyway. Mandria heard everything on the other hand... and he seemed to be enjoying it. One eye widened farther than the other and one side of his mouth curled up, a smile perhaps? His fangs were still in his mouth so as Konoe jostled the sharp appendages she only cut her arm up even more.

Her vision blurred, the hazy sight of Mandria delighting in her blood and flesh being the last thing she saw. After a few seconds, with Konoe still in his maw the obsidian drake let out another string of laughter. He pulled his head back... his venom slowly trailing in a sickly line from the tips of his fangs to Konoe's arm.

He gulped... something down... taking a moment to release a loud "ahh!" of satisfaction. By this time Konoe had already passed out... she could only minutely feel the pain in her arm.

"Orochimaru...where are you?!" Mandria echoed throughout the dim cave, the torches had been extinguished during the explosion so it was pretty dark. It didn't matter though, he was a snake and the dark was his home."Orochimaru!" He yelled again.

No reply.

"Hmm... feckless servant... he must have been caught within the blast, Kami only knows that that pathetic body he was inhabiting could only take so much." He turned to slither away. "No matter."

He stopped short when he heard something, the distinct hiss of another reptile coming his way. "T-think again!" _Anko_ yelled, latching onto Mandria by the neck, via the fangs of another viper, a red one. "The crimson fire snake, rare in Konoha. Hailed by snake hunters for its outrageously hostile poison."

Mandria only laughed. Orochimaru... that punk, he actually slipped. Anko had taken control again, the blast must have knocked that part of her out. Were it the real Orochimaru, the blast would have done nothing, but...

"Clever... but futile... don't you know? You can't poison me with snake's venom. I'm a snake!" He exclaimed incredulously, "This won't kill me." Mandria stared into the crimson eyes of the snake biting into his neck, the fiery fury it held, it was strong and young. If it weren't trying to kill him then he would have complimented it on the beauty and sheen of its scales.

But something was off, this was the Hebi Fang's apprentice.

"I know that...it's a shame, I really like this little guy too." The was a brief moment right before Anko yelled out through the darkness...."Katsu!" A spark of light traveled up the body of the snake, it hissed in pained. The light, it seemed almost like fire, flying swiftly up the viper's length, searing and burning up flesh until it reached the head of the snake. The fire snake's eyes bulged, going cock-eyed and it gave one final hiss before its head, still biting into Mandria's neck exploded.

"Hebi Bakuha!" (2) Anko screamed.

Mandria hissed as he was thrown away, and shakily Anko stood to her knees. She didn't have much time, Orochimaru was over powering her. She needed to get these two out of here before that time came. And judging by the jolts of pain in her skull... that time would be soon.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Anko breathed heavily, giving one giant huff just as soon breached through the border of tree and shrub, running rapidly along a flat open clearing. Over her right shoulder, bolstered up by her arm she had Sanae who was slung limply, hanging like a wet rag. Underneath her left underarm, she held Konoe who, much like her sister, dangled as limply as a wet noodle. Both girls had taken a bite from Orochimaru's snake, its venom was already corrupting their systems, but strangely... it was having... a reverse effect.

Instead of hurting, like it did ensuing the bite previously, both girls expressed little more than slight irritation on their unconscious visages. As if they were being soothed. That was just the tip of the iceberg, things got way weirder, as far as physical form went. Mandria's venom was working more like a cure than a venom. She noticed it first when she glanced at the bloody raw of Sanae's back.

That was when she gasped and almost dropped them. To her surprise, things were different. Tone stabilization, rapid skin tissue regeneration, mild occurrences of returning consciences. Amazingly, it didn't seem at all like the "venom" was hurting them anymore, rather it was doing the exact opposite. It was saving them...

Anko took a shuddering glance at the reconstructing skin taking up the majority of Sanae's back, creeping over slowly and spreading to the bloodier parts of her back like a small cinder overtaking a leaf. It was staggering. The girl was healing!

But she was only doing it slowly, really, just the major injuries were being tended to. It seemed that the only thing that was healing on Sanae was her back injury.

She glanced at Konoe as well, she still had open cuts running along her arms and legs. Why wasn't she healing?

How did Mandria's venom work exactly, it was something eldritch to her. He was a species that she'd never seen before. A drake... and obsidian colored one as well. And he could talk too. So was he a summon? Anko shook her head... no, no that didn't seem right. He seemed to be _above_ that, he was something else, something deadly. And apparently, he was something incomplete. Recalling back to what Orochimaru had said when she was trapped in her sub-conscious, Anko bit her lips furiously. She tasted her own blood.

"Just what the hell was he?" She screamed.

That didn't matter, her vision narrowed in on the rugged stone face gaining size as she neared it. Good, she was in propinquity of Konoha, what she needed to do was get these girls there before Orochimaru took over, if that happened..._when_ that happened, the Anbu at Konoha could have her restrained. They might have even killed her but it didn't matter, not anymore. Her students' well-being was much more important, even if it meant endangering her life.

Konoha was coming in fast, she could see the giant green gates flying up to meet her, they were wide open. It was now or never, she could feel Orochimaru's grip tightening on her mind once more. Although she wasn't aware of it, her eyes were constantly displaying flashes of bright gold.

Two guard nin came into view, both with perplexed on their faces. One of them raised his hand to greet her, but stopped short when he noticed the two limp girls dangling in Anko's arms. She whizzed past them both, hanging her head down low. They couldn't see her eyes.

Her head was a buzz, pressurized to the point that it felt like it was about to burst open. Her pace slowed until the acid in her knees caused her to drop to her knees. She clenched her teeth.. barely containing the screams dying to get out. Like pigeons, villagers gathered, unwitting faces, question faces, all of them staring with slack jaws. All of them gazing at the two injured girls in her arms.

She could hear their murmurs, the sounds of little voices, annoying; pounding furiously against her skull. She felt movement underneath her arm. The tuft of unruly auburn hair struggled uncontrollably, Konoe was awake and she was frantic. Just as quickly as Anko had realized this, she unlatched Konoe from her grip and the girl flipped over on her butt and used her feet to push frantically away form her sensei.

She was terrified, her eyes wide as her chest heaved and undulated with each frayed breath. Fear in its primal form, this girl was replete with it. It tore Anko apart, to know that she would be experiencing this fear once more. "K-konoe... it's me, Anko. Not...him." Anko said, wincing.

Konoe didn't respond, she simply shivered, whimpering like a lost puppy, completely oblivious to the villagers encircling them.

"An...ko-s-s-sensei?" She whispered.

Anko shook her head... but slowly. She winced when an iota of pain hit her head once more. She let out a muffled scream. "K-konoe... listen, there's not much time, he's taking control again. Take your sister...ahh! Hurry up and...g-go! Go to the hospital!" Anko shifted slightly, letting Konoe take Sanae onto her back. Once the transfer was complete, Anko looked up... gazing intensely at her student. One eye was golden and slitted, corrupted already, the other was still normal. She closed the eye when she saw Konoe gasp and slowly but assuredly she told her to...

"Run."

Konoe nodded stupidly, backing away as... Orochimaru's smile crept back onto _Anko's_ face once more. And with a speed that surprised all, lashed an unnaturally elongated and slimy tongue out right at her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Konoe woke up screaming, her face drenched with sweat. She sprang up quickly, gripping the sheets tightly in her fist, the cool air flowing through the window refreshed her moist skin. Along with the wind, the moon's fully refulgent glow shined directly onto her face. She looked left, then right.

Good... she was still in the hospital. It was only a dream. One moment, she was happily talking with friends, the most memorable friend being Naruto, and then the next minute...She shuddered, suppressing the thought, his tongue just lashed out at her just like...

Perhaps it was a bit of her memory working its way into her dreams, after all that was one of her most vivid memories. The pained look on Anko's face right before..._he_ opened her mouth and lashed out her tongue. Konoe touched her forehead, it was fervid and pulsating.

Slowly, she lay herself back down.

"Dammit, this is the third time this week that I-" but just as she covered herself with her own covers, the door burst open, mid-sentence, startling her enough that she sat up instantly and brought the sheets just below her eyes like a child scared of the boogieman.

It was that white-haired doctor again, he'd been checking up on them periodically, just to see how they were doing. Konoe thought it was sweet, her sister however expressed disapproval quite sternly. The walls weren't thick enough to contain Sanae's complaining in the other room.

"All you alright?" He asked, "I heard you screaming."

"Oh..uh, just a b-bad dream." She responded.

"I see, will you be alright for the rest of the night?" He asked with concern.

"Yes, um I'm pretty sure that I'll be okay."

The doctor nodded and closed the door, allowing her to go back to sleep.

Outside the door Kabuto smiled, adjusting his glassed professionally. This was ideal, they had no idea who he was. Now all that was left was to make contact with one more person, this would be the most exciting job he'd ever done.

Now he just had to make Uchiha Sasuke aware of the forces watching him. What fun that would be, right?

Right, he was sure that this next job for Orochimaru was sure to be an..._explosion.

* * *

_

Done... now if you did not notice, which is highly unlikely, I did something a little different. You should have caught on, pretty much at the beginning but just to elaborate, this was a flashback, a very awesome one in my opinion. But I want to know your opinion...so you already know what to do. Review...Review...oh and Review some more. And the part with Kabuto, yes that was in the past as well, this entire chapter occurred before the bomb chapter, the last one. I hope that you guys caught on to the little pun I put at the end..."sure to be an _explosion?"_

Reference to the bomb chapter that was written before this chapter, but in story time occurs after this chapter. Yeah...yeah that's about right.

I apologize for the insanely long absence, I had a shit load of crap to do. I'd rather not explain what I did, but just know that I didn't forget you. After this though, if there are any readers who follow my other story, look out for an update on that one as well.

**Alert:** I am working on a new story, its a very nice idea, i think, but tell me what you think. I wont reveal to much about but I will say that it involves a renegade, assassin like Naruto. Oh and also, he's fed up in this story, he's out of Konoha AND, he's feeling a little...rebellious. oooohhhhhh, bad boy Naruto. But... just so you know, he won't be as strong as the Naruto in this story, but he will be stronger than the one in Sacred Mark of the Rising Kekkei Genkai.

(1): Shuriken Kage Bunshin No Jutsu: Shadow Shuriken Clone Technique

(2): Hebi Bakuha: Snake Explosion; just to explain, this is a made-up technique from yours truly. You know, I was always wondering, how come Anko never used her deadly vipers as a pipeline for some awesome jutsu? You know like, what if she could channel a jutsu through one of her snakes, like imagine a snake spitting out a dragon flame jutsu... I wonder. I dunno, I'll be experimenting with Anko's jutsu, because, honestly you just don't see a lot of them during the anime. But don't worry she'll be performing some regular and well-known jutsu as well, this one, the HEBI BAKUHA was just one instance of my experimenting. It came from the shadow clone explosion technique, the same one Itachi used during his and Kisame's fight with Gai, Kakashi, and Kurenai. I simply created a variation using snakes. Okay... that's it.

Um happy holidays and have a Merry Christmas...Or a Happy Hanukkah... Or a Happy Kwanzaa!

Anyway

Latr and Thanx

Next chapter: The Lambent

GrIm'S sTePpIn' OuT


	9. The Lambent

Hello again

Psychedelic...

Weed is AWESOME.

I would never do that while writing...or would I?

Okay Okay, enough joking around, I want to get back to what matters and that is the story.

I know, I know... my last chapter was...a flashback. But that's okay because this one isn't, it actually contributes to the story, so I hope you enjoy. If you don't then you'll be attacked by me of course. Oh... you didn't know? I'm a ninja too, an urban ninja that is. Seriously, I've been working on some things, things like learning how to free-run. Yeah, I've taken up parkour... and frankly...its REALLY, REALLY hard. I'm talking like insanely hard. But enough about me, I've rambled on long enough about myself and not enough about the story.

I'll be concise, simply put, its short part of the mission in the beginning, after that there will be stuff to read. So read it. This probably has a lot of mistakes in it, I didn't bother to proofread, forgive me.

And the quote is...originally by me of course:

_~In a boring world of black and white, always strive to add the colors of fun, in other words, get high~ _The life's motto of a pothead

Crimson Dawn: Uzumaki Naruto

* * *

"So what did you want to speak about?

Sarutobi sat in his chair, leaning back, the glare of the sun at his back and shadowing his facial features. He looked older than he normally appeared, which, evidently wasn't that much older. It didn't matter, shine or no shine, Sarutobi Hiruzen was an old ass...

Anyway.

Gently he rested his hand on top of his desk, sliding over the glaborous surface of the wood with slow, elegant strokes. His had moved up to meet his other, fingers intertwining before they settled in front of his winkled facial skin, his eyes centered on Anko.

"Yes," he said, he then blinked once and sighed. "I would like to..." the words hung in the air, unsure of whether or not they wanted to come out or not. Finally they did, "I would like to extend to you my deepest apologies, Anko-san, I am sorry for my imprudent actions."

For a moment, she didn't say anything, she just leaned back, throwing her arm behind her chair. Her eyebrow lifted with skepticism. He sighed once more, he knew this wouldn't be easy, but then again everything the Hokage did was never easy. He couldn't really remember the last thing he did that was a "piece of cake", be it paperwork or political matters. Anko for one didn't look too enthralled to be in this room with this old man, who unjustly chastised her, put her in the asylum sector of a hospital; and now was just going to try and apologize.

No, that would not roll over well with her. Interest would be needed, he could tell by the way she bore her eyes into him. Anko expected more than just an apology, hell, she deserved it.

"Yes, you are sorry" her words were cold and confirming, "is that all?" She asked, fighting off the urge to smile.

She had the Hokage, the mother freaking, old skinned, saggy scrotum, pipe smoking, Hokage, apologizing... to her of all people! Normally it would be the other way around, but today was different, circumstances were different, she would grasp the opportunity and milk it for everything that it was worth.

Sarutobi sputtered for a bit, not taking his gaze from Anko's glum expression. He cleared his throat rather loudly. "No Anko-san, I acted rashly and without regard for your side of the story. I really would like you to know that I am sincerely sorry, but you must understand, while it was not of your own accord, you placed depredation upon the village, and as the Hokage I had to act quickly... but I did not think things through all the way. I was blinded by my own rage towards you. And I beseech you, if you can find it in that unique heart of yours to forgive me, I would deeply appreciate it. In addition, I can tell you that the spoils of your action will not be withheld from you if you cannot find it in your mind to forgive me of my sins; you will still receive what you deserve."

Anko leaned in, palming her chin and huffed, "Okay, If I forgive you, I get what I want; If I don't forgive you, I _still _get what I want. Tell me Hokage-sama, _why_ should I forgive you?"

Sarutobi cleared his throat once more but resigned to his fate of yet another unnecessary explanation. "Anko-san, you don't have to forgive me, I merely wanted to know how you felt on the matter and whether or not you would forgive me, I do not want you to hate me. I am your Hokage, and I watch over all those here, and as Hokage, I can't have my loyal villagers and shinobi, not even one, look at me with such disdain. Even if it is proper. I just want you to understand what was going through my mind both then and now so-" He stopped mid-sentence, put to a halt by the palm of Anko's hand.

Inwardly she smiled; _she_ just silenced him, much like he had done her so many times before.

And she loved it!

In fact she drank it in, it was only a sip, probably the only one she'd have but nevertheless, a small sip from the fountain that was the Hokage's authority. It coursed through her and slithered around like the many snakes in her sleeves. Unquestioned power, all of it the Hokage's, now, some of it was hers, be it the residue.

Whether or not the Hokage knew it or not-Anko certainly did-she had influence over him. Be it minute, influence was influence and she would exploit it... later.

For now.

"Fine, I forgive you Hokage-sama, I understand how you felt about the entire situation, back then I could not see it, but now I do. I assure you, I don't hate you, I might strongly dislike you after this and I might never forgive you, but I don't hate you and I am still loyal."

The Hokage smiled, closing his eyes contentedly, "Thank you... Anko-san. Now, about those spoils I mentioned." As expected, Anko's eyes lit up like child's spotting a new toy. She was such a simple person, he thought, while at the same time, she was one of _the __most_ complex. Anko was a mystery to many, unraveled only to a few scarcely handpicked individuals, but he was glad to know that she still supported his endeavors.

He knew it, he felt it, that in the future, she would have a bigger influence on him, he was sure of it. His Hokage's sense of principle would ensure that.

His thoughts were interrupted when Anko slapped her hands together, rubbing them excitedly. "Spoils you say Hokage-sama, why you shouldn't have!" He gave her a few fluttering waves of his wrinkled hand.

"Settle down," he said as he reached down into his desk, producing from a drawer a new, burnished hitae-ite, "I believe this is yours?" He asked knowingly as he let go just in time. Anko swiped it childishly from his hand holding it to her bosom like it was her very own heart. She let out a sigh.

"Oh...man how I've missed the feel of this thing, cold, polished metal, smooth velvety cloth, the best! Arigato, Hokage-sama."

"Mitarashi Anko," he said, "Officially re-accepted into the Konoha Shinobi personnel, position: Tokubetsu Jounin. Do well Anko-san, you have proven that despite hard times you will remain with the village, you could have easily swayed from us during the bombing fiasco a while back, yet you remained, juxtaposed with the very Shinobi who looked down upon you. Be proud."

And she was, hell, if she could she would hug him. But hugging her headband was much better than embracing old skin, less saggy...you know? She was nodding vehemently when Sarutobi smiled and opened his mouth yet again. "Also, Mitarashi Anko; awarded a month of extra vacation during your normal vacation time, I don't do that often so..." Anko simply sat there, mouth agape.

Influence.

Getting the Hokage to give his nin extra days of vacation was like... trying to see the underneath of Hatake Kakashi's mask! Fucking impossible, but so fucking sweet once you did!

Hitae-ite still in hand, Anko clasped the Hokage's hands into hers, shaking wildly. "Oh thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you! You won't regret this, I'll be the best kunoichi I can be!" Sarutobi smiled; incentive, it was the ultimate peace offering.

After a few more seconds, Anko calmed herself, drawing gradually out of her jubilation and seating herself formally in her seat. She cleared her throat, no annoyance present.

"Thank you Hokage-sama, but considering what you have done for me, I would like to know. My students, what about them?"

"Do you want them?" Anko's face seemed to grow smaller as her visage constricted. After a moment, she shook her head. "And why not?" He asked.

She elaborated somberly, "Not yet at least. Well, they seemed... scared of me, you know, on that day... I don't know whether or not they would take me back. And what's a team that isn't fully in sync? It's nothing. I think it would be stupid to have them see me after such a short amount of time, especially considering their last image of me. For now, may I ask this; can they train with Uzumaki Naruto's team?"

The Hokage seemed apprehensive at first, he narrowed his eyes. He then complied. "It shall be done. The benefits, if my expectations for Naruto are met, will be salutary. But eventually they'll have to come back to you, before the chunin exams, agreeable?"

"Agreeable," Anko confirmed, then she slid into a much more jovial demeanor, putting on a cheeky smile. "Now, can you tell me one last thing?"

Sarutobi nodded.

"Tell me about Naruto. We spoke a lot during my weeks in the loony bin, but I'm feeling that he left out a lot about himself, a lot that _you," _she pointed, "would know about."

Sarutobi's eyes widened for a moment, opening his mouth and closing it several times. Soon he sighed and submitted to the inevitable. "Fine, but let me tell you, speak to him about it afterwards. I will tell you this because Naruto seems to be quite fond of you, he even seems to _trust_ you."

Anko only smiled.

Influence, _bitches_.

XXXXXXX

Hinata landed on top of the concrete wall, the night air was chilly against her neck but her jacket protected the rest of her body from the chill. Her Byakugan eyes were indicated by the bulging veins that throbbed on both sides of her head, near her temples. Her pupils, clear and translucent swiveled quickly from left to right. The radio in her headset erupted with static.

"Hinata, can you see them?" She tapped it once before replying, her attention partially concentrated on the furry masses darting betwixt the alleyways. There were so many of them, too many of them. And _she_ was supposed to track them all? That was ridiculous! Still she replied with the patented reserve that all Hyuuga were famous for, despite her frantic disposition.

"Yes, there's a lot of them." She answered.

Shino's voice cut in. "How many?"

Her mind went through the numbers. _Two, four..seven... _"Ten," she replied, "there's ten of them. I can see three of them, they're heading your way Shino-kun, to your right."

Shino nodded, cutting off the link from his perch on the side of a dank alleyway wall. The floors of the alley were mottled with brown puddles of liquid that stunk pretty badly. It seemed that these animals had been peeing all over the place, an annoying nuance to the mission that Shino nor his highly smell-sensitive insects had anticipated. "Ugh" He groaned, but was cut off when the scratchy patter of three clawed paws grew loud around the corner of the alley. He could hear them now, three, just like Hinata had said, huffing their way between the narrow space.

A few seconds later they came rushing at him, but he did not move. They had dark fur, sleek and shiny while at the same time untamed. Simply reaching into his kunai holster, he snapped the taut, invisible wire in front of him. Two of the large quadrupeds let out startled ululations, howls, when dozens of thin wires sprang from the puddles and bit into their fur-covered flesh, lifting them high into the air until they were about eye-level with Shino. The wire net bounced up and down a few times until it came to a stop, leaving the two squirming animals hanging. Shino didn't bother to pursue the last one, his insects had already done their job.

Before the last beast turned the corner onto the street, his insects had already drained the life out of the third beast. "I've got my three," he said stoically.

There was a brief moment of static before Hinata responded, "Naruto just disabled his three, and so did Kurenai sensei... I think."

Shino raised his brow, "You think?"

"Yeah, she's sort of walking down the road... and they're just...following her, obediently."

"Genjutsu," Kurenai's voice explained. But as she was beginning to cut off their link, a thought struck her and her red gaze widened. "Wait, you said that there were ten of them right? We've only got nine."

Hinata immediately understood her implication and the answer immediately came to Kurenai in the form of feral growling over on Hinata's end. Hinata herself, not distracted at all by the struggling canine underneath the groove of her armpit said, "Ano...I've... got him here," and with that said, Hinata pressed her finger to the beast's neck, pushing a little chakra into her touch. It went limp.

"Alrighty then," Naruto interjected, "We've got our perpetrators, let's head home gang." His voice held a cheerful tone that made all but Shino giggle.

They met in the center of the town, it was still nighttime but the rim of dawn was beginning to reach the edge of the horizon, painting the sky purple. On account of the animals, which they captured, nobody was out on the streets, unlikely for a trade town set betwixt the borders of two lands.

By a large fountain, they dumped their four-legged "captives". Hinata carefully lay hers down on the cold stone, careful not to hurt it more than she'd already did. It had brown, dirty fur and its breathing was coarse, but it looked okay nonetheless. Unlike Hinata, Shino held no empathy for their pain; dragging two by dozens of wires entangled into a makeshift net and one hoisted limply over his shoulder. He threw them in a pile next to Hinata's and walked away.

Kurenai simply told her bunch to go and sit next to the crumpled heap of bodies. Naruto, well all three of him, gently placed their victims on the ground at the fore of the pile. The two Naruto's on the side turned around and disappeared with a soft pop of smoke, leaving the one real one in the middle to scratch the back of his head lazily. "They're wolves," he said.

"I think we noticed Naruto."

"Shut up Shino."

XXXXXXX

They arrived at the village only a few hours later, their road being the forest of course. That was the nin's way of course. The gargantuan green gates attributed only to Konoha gleamed with luster, almost like the Hokage monument did.

"Let's hurry up and report to the Hokage," Kurenai instructed, "After that you are all free to go for the rest of the day." Team eight nodded accordingly. "Good." Kurenai said before spinning around on her heel, beginning team eight's departure to the Hokage's office.

They walked through the districts and small streets without too much trouble, barely anyone stared at Naruto, the streets were moderately empty today though. It was odd, Konoha's streets were _never_ empty. Today must have been one of the relaxation days for one of all the new religions that the village was being exposed to due to its diverse trade routes. Today _was_ _Sunday_, and if he remembered correctly, one of the new religions rising in the village called for a complete stop to daily labors every Sunday.

_I think that's it, _he thought. And his thoughts served him well, for the Hokage tower came quickly, only after ten minutes of walking to be exact and Naruto was glad for it. He hadn't even felt the walk. When they ascended the spiral stairways of the structure and approached the Hokage's office Kurenai stopped and turned around. She stared at Naruto.

"What?" he said defensively.

"No funny business Naruto. Don't call them wimps okay? Be polite to them."

Naruto looked dismayed, but smiled lightly. "Hai..." he responded. That was the first thing he planned on talking about... well played Kurenai.

"Good." Without turning she knocked on the Hokage's door twice, after a brief pause, his voice came.

"You may enter." Kurenai turned.

When the door was opened, it was Kurenai who froze, mouth agape, something had shocked her so much that she still had her hand attached to the doorknob.

"Why did you-" Naruto began to say, but stopped when he heard a distinctively feminine voice come from inside.

"Hey Kure-chan, long time no see."

Naruto's eyes lit up, he knew that voice! Yeah of course he did, but he just could not see the person. Kurenai was still blocking the way. He leaned left and right to peep around his sensei's shoulder, trying to get a better look. He found himself frustrated the fact that despite her lithe frame, Kurenai still fit the width of the door. Annoyed with his futile tactics he boosted himself up on the tips of his toes. He almost immediately cursed his shortness.

"Hey... Kurenai-sensei...hey could you move?" Naruto said while hopping up just enough to descry Anko's spiky bun of hair over the rim of Kurenai's shoulder. He hopped higher so that his full head could be seen over his sensei's shoulder, he smiled when he saw Anko's eyes looking at him. No more gold, no more Orochimaru in them. "Hey Anko-neechan!" He said during another hop. "I'm back!"

Behind him, Hinata and Shino traded glances, and simultaneously they raised their eyebrows.

Anko...neechan?

During another one of Naruto's jumps Kurenai squealed, girlishly, her red eyes locked fully onto the gleaming Hitae-ite on Anko's shoulder. Until now Naruto hadn't known Kurenai could move so fast, as she literally blurred up to Anko's side, hugging her like a sister who had been separated from her at birth. No, more than that, she hugged her like they were _twin _sisters separated at birth... hmm... twin sisters who were both ninjas. Twinjas.

"You got it back?" Kurenai sensei asked frantically.

"Yeah..."

"When?"

"Fifteen minutes ago."

"Um.." Kurenai turned to her students and then quickly back to Anko and the Hokage; this wasn't the time to be acting like a little girl, all though she wanted to. She cleared her throat. "Erm...well Hokage-sama, team eight has completed their mission, we're reporting back." The Hokage simply stared wide-eyed at the red eyed Jounin.

A thought came to mind, it was true, Anko and Kurenai really _were_ best friends, they even knew how to act like each other. Naruto simply smiled at the sight, funny-yes-very, but it was warming as well.

Kurenai continued, regaining her erstwhile-formal demeanor and began spilling out the results of their mission. What had transpired, who the culprits were, how much of a let down the mission actually was. Actually, that part wasn't Kurenai, it was Naruto who added in that bit of info. Through it all the Hokage kept his visage observant, carefully absorbing every word uttered, his hands were intertwined, fingers placed just above the ridge of his nose.

Naruto listened well to how his sensei recalled all the events that occurred during the mission, describing each happening with so much detail that it seemed as if he were reliving the entire boring ordeal...

"How dull it must have been Kurenai-san." The Hokage said evenly, his words were accompanied by few shakes of the head courtesy of Anko. "But I'm am glad that you've returned, Kami only knows how many nin have gone out on missions similar to that and not come back, let's be thankful that you came back safely." But with Naruto _and_ Kurenai on that team, it was not a surprise that they came back without a scratch, however he did notice that both and Hinata and Shino were looking a bit scruffy.

"Hinata-san, Shino-san, you look... tired."

Hinata merely smiled and nodded, Shino said the words for her. "The results of our water walking exercises." He elaborated.

The Hokage nodded, "I see well, I hope that these are enough to make up for your... strenuous training." He reach down into his desk and pulled out three slips of paper. "Here are your vouchers, take these to the bank and exchange them for your credit." He handed one to Hinata, Shino and Kurenai.

"A-ano... H-hokage-sama, w-what about Naruto...ku..ah-san?" Hinata asked, pocketing her voucher with clumsy fingers. The Hokage smiled.

"It has already been transferred to his bank account... by me, personally."

"Oh...um-..." Hinata mumbled back.

"Aw, she cares," Anko chimed.

"I-... uh...um" Hinata blushed all the way down to her toes, and in Naruto's opinion it was actually rather cute. Not that he thought that _she_ was cute.

"But I'm glad that you care enough for your comrade enough to ensure that he gets his due." Hinata's face, well, it gave the word red a new meaning. For a moment, Naruto glanced at her face and then at his sensei's eyes, then wondered which was redder. In the end, Hinata won. The Hokage spoke once more, his voice cutting through the air like a shuriken. "If that is all, you may all leave, I myself have a mountainous amount of work to tend to..." The Hokage palmed his face, shaking his head pitifully.

Naruto smiled, amused at his mentor's dismay.

"Kure-tan hey let's go somewhere." Anko said suddenly.

"Where?"

"I don't know, anywhere."

"Fine." Kurenai responded. You three are dismissed for the day, meet at the training ground tomorrow." Her words echoed as she and Anko made a hand seal and disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

XxxxxxxxX

Yuuji Saito leaned on the old bark of a tall tree he'd made his personal spot whenever he he patrolled, he liked to think of it as a sort of break area for him. Anbu didn't get that many nowadays and he thought this one area of solitude to be one of his most prized secrets. Other Anbu didn't get peace and quiet like this.

His radio buzzed in his ear, it seemed that it'd been doing that more often than now ever since the bombing fiasco. This time it wasn't a message of dire panic; it was the sweet sound of a comrade's voice. He tapped his ear, "Yeah?" Inwardly he chuckled at how casual he was being. It was strange, for an Anbu casual attitudes where awkward, maybe that's why his team was so weird, especially with Naruto on it now.

"Well Taichou, you seem happy," It was Yukari, her feminine voice wasn't at all marred by the scratchy distortion of his earpiece. He heard her loud and clear. "Its about Naruto, and the information we've got about Orochimaru's presence in the village. Looks like our little teammate can help us out more than we thought."

Saito perked up, actually leaning off of the tree trunk; he paced the grass with excitement. "Really?"

"Anko-san's two students were bitten, and Naruto just so happens to be the best friend of those two girls... the Fuminas." Her voice held a certain rise in tone, as if she was expecting him to understand something unsaid but implied. It clicked, then he smiled

"Ah... I see, espionage, smart."

"I knew you'd say that Taichou," Yukari giggled girlishly. "But let's not give me all the credit, Touei suggested it ; I simply said that it'd better to make Naruto do it."

Saito smiled, gazing at the rays of sunlight filtering through the canopy. "Well now you just sound like you didn't want to do it yourself, lazy." He said teasingly. But surprisingly, Yukari didn't answer. No giggle, no denial of the fact, not even the slightest iota of resistance. Saito pinched the ridge of his nose, shaking his head dispiritedly.

The Anbu of this generation had really become much too comfortable...

"Touei looked into a couple of files surrounding the girls," she continued, "and he found something: A name that kept popping up."

"Really now?"

"Yes, Yakushi Kabuto...It seems that in every one of the cases that involved Anko or anyone involved with her, he'd been the doctor on duty. When Fumina Konoe was sent to the hospital, he was there. When Anko herself was in the loony bin, _he_ was there! And finally when the Fumina sisters were were placed in the intensive care ward, _he_ just so happens to pop up again!" Saito jerked his head, wincing beneath his mask.

"You're getting too excited Yukari-san." He said.

"Oh... my bad Taichou."

"It's okay. I'll contact Naruto, so we'll begin with this Yakushi guy today, understood?"

"Hai."

XXXXXXX

Being released before her sister felt, for lack of a better word, weird. It just didn't feel right to leave her sister alone in that place, she just didn't feel right about it. The sun was high and hot, its bright rays burned her face. At least the hospital was air conditioned, at this rate Konoe considered stepping back into the hospital just to escape the heat.

But for some reason, nobody else seemed bother by it. It was incredibly hot, yet children and adults alike roamed the streets as if it were nothing, shrugging off the heat and all of its skin-damaging significance. She'd been immersed within her thoughts, so she let her body guide itself. Her stomach growled hungrily, setting the location of her next stop: the Ichiraku District.

The sun was still tormenting her skin so she blocked it out with her hand, every now and then she'd bring it back down to rub her ululating stomach. It had been a long time since she'd had ramen, too long in fact. She could barely recall what it tasted like, the dullness of hospital food had all but replaced everything in her diet. She shook her head side to side, flinging some of her auburn-now red in the sunlight-hair into her mouth. She spit it out hastily, it reminded her of that disgusting food.

"Ugh... I don't even want to think about that stuff," She said to herself. She closed her eyes, concentrating on the salty-sweet vegetable ramen that awaited her in less then a few minutes. When the smell of the Ichiraku District hit her nose, she knew she was getting closer. How had she even become so enamored with the food, there was really nothing special about it: just a combination of flavored broth and noodles. It was commoners food, a plain and humble meal.

The picture of Naruto's blond hair and wide blue-eyed smile entered her mind, maybe that was the reason. She found herself blushing at the fact. She'd been so caught up in her daydreaming that she failed to notice the boy with unruly blond hair leaning on a wooden fence, gazing right at her.

She walked right past Naruto without so much as a word.

"Oh... yeah, don't mind me... I'm just leaning here, _not_ waiting for anyone." He said sarcastically. Konoe jumped at the sound of his voice, a giving a startled "eh" as she turned around. They locked eyes, and her mouth curled into a smile. She was embracing him before he had time to wave at her, burying her head into his neck, her hair tickled but it was smooth enough for him to not chuckle.

"Naruto-kun!" She yelled happily, she rubbed her head from side to side, the point of her nose ran gently along his clothing. He palmed the back of her head.

"Hey, Konoe-chan... you feeling better?"

She hid the sound of her own relieved sniffled in the fabric of his shirt, "A little," she muttered. "Sanae still can't leave the hospital yet." She looked him in eye.

Naruto rose his eyebrow, he began walking and she followed with him. "Then we'll have to pay her a visit later." He said jovially. Konoe nodded in accordance.

"You heading to Ichiraku's I assume?"

"Uh-huh."

"Then I'll come with."

"What, you had better things to do?" She teased.

"Yeah, why hang with you when I could be reading a nice book?" He glanced at her sideways with a small smirk etched onto his face.

"Shut up Naruto, baka." She unlatched herself from him and folded her arms turning her face away from him. "Hmph!" Knowing him he probably meant it to some degree or another.

The smell of the streets and gone from mild to sweet in minutes, they were a few steps away from the white, decorated cloth that served as Ichiraku's front door when they heard someone laugh loud an heartily. They looked back; across from Ichiraku's on top of one of the stools posted in front of a dango shop was Anko spinning round and round in her seat, holding a saucer of sake in her hand with her eyes closed. The clear liquid spilled minutely from the edges of the saucer. In her other hand she held a stick impaling three multi-colored balls of dango: green, blue, green.

Next to her Kurenai sat smiling, she seemed to notice them, but for safety's sake, she motioned for them to keep moving: the gentle flicks of her wrist.

Naruto scowled, but he stopped when he heard Konoe glance behind him. He felt her hand clench the back of his shirt, and for a moment he thought about leaving. "You okay?"

"Y-yeah, I'll wait inside, I-I mean if you wanna go and..." she let her words hang in the air, severing off her sentence.

"N-no, I don't. You sure you..uh.. won't mind being here?"

She shook her head sternly, her blue eyes unwavering. Naruto turned, placing his hand on her back, and led her underneath the flap to Ichiraku's. He cast one final glance at Kurenai, flicking his wrist gently three times. Kurenai simply shook her head.

Once inside, they took their seats, Konoe laid her head on the bar table and sighed deeply. They were the only ones there.**  
**

"What have we here?" A familiar female voice said.

"Ayame-chan, just your favorite customers!" Naruto replied cheerfully. Ayame twirled a lock of her plain light-brown hair around her finger, "My dad isn't here so it's just me today."

She leaned over Konoe, glanced at Naruto, then back to Konoe.

"You okay?"

Konoe didn't reply, she simply nodded, rubbing the side of her head against the table as well.

"She...heh...sheee's uh, just a little tired." He silently mouth 'hospital food' to Ayame.

The older girl perked up. "Well, let's see what we can do about that!" Konoe lifted up her hand, "I know, vegetable ramen right?"

Konoe rubbed the side of her head against the table once more.

"Comin' right up, what'll it be for you Naruto-kun, I know you like a little variety every now and then."

"Uhhh...double that order, can't make up my mind anyway. Oh and tell the old man I said hi."

Ayame nodded and hurried to the back kitchen. Naruto then turned to Konoe, resting his his elbow against the bar table.

"Konoe, if you're bothered by being this close to Anko then let's just leave," he was frowning, "Seriously don't try and force yourself to endure the proximity, you don't have to be brave."

"Shut up, that's not what I'm mad about." She was trying not to think about the reason why when she first saw Naruto but just seeing his face reminded her every second about what she had been trying to deny.

Naruto's eyes grew dull with skepticism. _Yeah...right_, he thought to himself, but Konoe was twitching awkwardly so he humored her. "Then what?"

"S-sanae... told me about you!" She did not raise her head but she somehow poked him right in the forehead with her finger when she pointed. Naruto cringed, he opened his mouth to speak but left it hanging. Konoe turned her head so that one of her eyes could glare at Naruto through her veil of hair.

"Konoe...I-I was going to tell you but..." he stopped when he felt the familiar pressure of a hand on his shoulder. He immediately recognized who it was. He could tell by the icy-cool prick of sensation, that near to nonexistent presence.

"He would have told you but he had _other_ duties to attend to."

Naruto's head whipped to the left and he found himself staring right into the eye-holes of a modified tiger mask. "T-taichou," he spoke quietly.

Yuuji Saito was standing there, resting his hand on his shoulder... as if nobody could simply walk in and see them, not that that would have been a problem. But why he chose to approach him now of all times had Naruto flummoxed, considering that it was in front of Konoe must have made the reason important.

"Now that _she_ knows I can assume that it's safe to approach you when you're around her, correct?"

Naruto glanced at Konoe, who was now upright; her mouth was limply hung open and she teetered dangerously on the edge of her seat. She said nothing, her eyes simply repeated their rhythmic glances between Naruto and his captain. The shock must have been something for her.

"Yeah I guess." Naruto responded.

"Good, come with me." Saito said.

"First," Naruto turned to Konoe and gripped her by the shoulders, they were shaking. "We'll talk later, okay?" He said. She didn't say anything back. He tried to look into her eyes but her eyes stayed attached to Saito's ominous mask, she still nodded her head absently though.

"Okay! Two fresh orders of vegetable ramen!" Ayame yelled, emerging from the back kitchen holding two hot steaming bowls of ramen.

She wore gloves. The smell of the food and the sound of her voice turned Konoe's head in that direction. She barely felt Naruto's hands leave her shoulders. "Ara...what happened to...Naruto-kun?" Ayame asked, her expression saddening.

Konoe snapped back from her trance, flicking her head violently. When she looked she saw that neither Naruto nor his creepy Anbu partner was there anymore, they simply vanished without a trace.

"H-he said that he... had another mission," Konoe lied, staring blankly at the spot where Naruto had just been.

Something twinkled on the table, a couple of bills had been placed on bar counter in front of Naruto's seat, just enough money to pay for the both of them.

XXXXXXXX

If emotion could be captured through the smell then you could say that the Ichiraku district _always_ smelled cheerful. Every person had a smile on while they stuffed their faces, eating until they literally dropped from their seats. All was content apparently, but why did Sasuke have a scowl on his face. He was all for brooding and angst but even _he_ should have at least felt somewhat neutral when he walked through the good vibes of the district. Perhaps it was this unbearable heat.

"Where we goin' exactly, Akamaru and I are getting hungry over here." Kiba stated, resting his hands in his pockets; sitting atop his hooded head, Akamaru barked in accordance. Sakura walked beside him, Sasuke walked right in between. He tuned the dog-boy out, his left hand gently fiddling with the syringe in his pocket. He hadn't taken that hand out of his pocket since he'd placed the needle in, he'd even stolen a needle cap from the hospital to keep from stabbing himself.

He couldn't get his mind off of the thing, it was so arcane to him. Part of him wanted to throw the thing away the instant he'd gotten and another part was insatiably curious to find out what would happen if he were to actually put this stuff, whatever it was, in his system.

Although there was something that distracted him from his left pocket; a blond bush of hair walking directly next to a girl with freely flowing auburn hair, it looked much more red in the sunlight though. Sasuke stopped abruptly, his teammates tried to speak but he shushed them with a wag of his finger.

It was Naruto and that Fumina girl he was so close with, one of them at least. The girl, Konoe, walked closely by Naruto's side, her cheeks a distinct rosy pink.

They were far enough that Naruto couldn't see them, but apparently close enough for him to hear a woman's distasteful laughter. Her guffaws sounded a bit more like mild chuckles from his distance though. He could just barely descry young woman spinning wildly in a dango shop stool with a saucer in her hands, the top of her dark purplish hair was fixed in a spiky bun. Beside her, another woman with curly black hair and surprisingly red eyes was sitting next to her, smiling.

The woman with the red eyes then did something odd, she glanced at Naruto and waved him off with three flicks of his wrist. Naruto stared back, turning his head to whisper something to Konoe. She shook her head quickly, and he then placed his hand on her back and led her into Ichiraku's.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, bouncing between glances at Naruto's and Konoe's disappearing backs and the two women by the dango shop; he made an attempt _not_ to look at the spinning purple-hair lady's swinging tits... but his will wasn't that strong.

"I found somewhere we can eat,"

"Finally!" Kiba exclaimed. He looked where Sasuke pointed and said "What, Ichiraku's? Ramen is so lame!" Akamaru whimpered. "Amen to that," Kiba responded.

"Shut up Kiba," Sakura said, punching Kiba in the arm, "How can you even understand him?"

"Why can't _you_ understand him?" Kiba shot back.

"Because _I'm_ not a freak," She responded.

"Well... that forehead says otherwise," Kiba muttered quietly.

Sakura's face went red, "What did you say?"

"A-ah, nothing! O-oh look Sasuke's leaving us!" Kiba babbled quickly, blurring away in order to catch up with Sasuke.

Sasuke who was slowly getting closer to Ichiraku's, scrunched his face into a frown again. He sped his pace up. He had just seen something _very_ weird. Underneath the flap to Ichiraku's, someone else ankles could be seen besides Naruto and Konoe's. But...

...he hadn't seen anyone else enter beside them.

Sasuke looked up and broke into a little jog which then switched to a sprint. His team followed on his heels. They approached Ichiraku's quickly, Sasuke swiped the flimsy cloth away with his right hand.

"Naruto!" He exclaimed loudly.

The kitchen's orchestra was loud against the silence Sasuke's entrance had created. Naruto himself wasn't there anymore, just the Fumina and an older brown-haired teenage girl; both of which looked at him with startled expressions. The brown haired girl held two steaming bowls of ramen in her hands, the steam rose from the bowls like smoke from a chimney.

"Sasuke...kun?" Sakura asked.

"Weirdo," Kiba muttered.

"Um... he was just...here." The brown haired girl said, the shiny name-tag she wore said her name was Ayame. Ayame then looked up at the ceiling lights which weren't on, "Although he didn't even eat his ramen, that's so not like him. "

Sasuke shook his head, "I'll... find him later." He said before he took a seat right next to Konoe. She looked at him nervously with sideways glances. His teammates took their seats to his right, confused expressions on their faces.

Ayame placed one piping hot bowl in front of Konoe. "Here ya' go Konoe-chan."

"Ah, um could you save that for me?" Konoe asked, "I'll give it to Naruto later."

Ayame nodded, "Sure thing," she said and then looked at Sasuke, "What will it be?"

"Pork, and white rice on the side." Ayame nodded and went to the back."I'll be back to get your orders!" She yelled to Kiba and Sakura.

Sasuke turned to Konoe who seemed to shy away from his gaze. "So, you're Naruto's friend huh?"

Her brow arched, " Yeah, a-aren't you?"

"Not really," Sasuke replied, his lids slowly lowering. What could ever make a person think that he and Naruto of all people were friends?

"W-well, back in the academy didn't you two come bursting in through the doors with all those girls?"

Sasuke groaned, rubbing the bridge of his nose. Maybe something like that. "Don't make me think about it, that was just a unfortunate coincidence, that's all." He then glared back at Sakura who blushed and chuckled at him nervously. Kiba only sighed in response and Akamaru barked happily. "Me and that dobe are more like..." he searched hard for the word and scrunched his face when he could not find the proper word.

"Rivals, maybe?" Konoe suggested.

"As if!" Sakura exclaimed, "Naruto can't come close to Sasuke." She stared at Sasuke's back for a moment hoping for a reaction from her crush, she deflated when he did nothing but shrug. He wouldn't agree, he also wouldn't disagree either.

Konoe rested her head atop her palms, "Is that so?" After what she just saw a minute ago, she would go ahead and assume that Sasuke couldn't hold out for a minute against Naruto. But she didn't know whether or not what she'd witnessed was to be kept esoteric, so she opted not to divulge the truth about Naruto. However she did contemplate telling Ayame, or at least telling Naruto to do it.

"Well of course..."

"Ok then I believe you," She said in a dry tone. She had no reason to feel offended given that she knew what knew. She picked up her chopsticks, gently lowering them past the rim of her bowl, watching as they soaked up the light brown broth. She at slowly and with little emotion. Sasuke watched her attentively and she tried glancing back but her lack of feeling had her gazing right back into her bowl. At one point, she was deeply aware of his eyes but she simply stopped caring after awhile. Some draining emotion had come over her for the moment and all she wanted to do was wallow in it.

So she ate in melancholy. Ayame had already placed Sasuke's bowl in front of him and a package bowl of ramen in something similar to a lunchbox for Naruto next to her but she barely noticed.

She did feel something else though and it drew her eyes back down to Sasuke's pants. In his left pocket, although she could not see but feel, there was something that kept prodding at her, something that was probably a contributor to her melancholy. A strong undertow, and she was definitely feeling it, a physical reaction. She slurped the last of her noodles up, and brought the bowl to her lips, quaffing down the salty broth.

How had his teammates not noticed the foulness of that pocket.

"I-I gotta go," She said. She wiped her mouth with her forearm and grabbed the packed ramen Ayame had set down for her. It was placed in a small box frame, the bowl itself had a lid placed over it. She picked it up by its metal handle. "Ayame-chan, the money's on the counter," she then turned to Sasuke and his team. Kiba's attentiveness to her was scarce, he was more concerned with feeding Akamaru scraps of barbecued pork.

Sakura seemed to be glaring at her now, her scowl moved from Sasuke and then to her. Sakura huffed and looked down into her bowl. Sasuke still gazed with that bored expression. "O-okay, I'll get out of here." She said quickly backing out behind the cloth.

She backed away until she couldn't see Sasuke's unnerving stare anymore. When she turned around she jumped, almost dropping Naruto's food. Yuuhi Kurenai's eyes up close were much more than what Naruto had described them to be. They were fucking terrifying! Naruto's sensei, the elegantly beautiful woman that she was, smiled disarmingly.

Konoe ignored it, looking past her at Anko who was now alone. Her former sensei only spared small glances in their direction, not daring to make any eye contact. Kurenai stepped back into her ken, her smiled back in sight.

"Anko-chan _and_ Naruto-kun has told me a lot about you."

"R-really?" She tried to look back at her Anko but Kurenai's shoulders blocked the way. She resisted the urge to stand on her toes.

"Yeah, and I know you don't have a sensei right now, so... " she gently placed her hand on Konoe's shoulder, "how would you and your sister like to join our training sessions?"

Konoe did not say anything for a moment, her mouth was open. "I uh," she finally got out, "guess when she gets better...we could... try and-"

Kurenai patted her firmly on the shoulder, "Great... meet my team at training ground nineteen around six tomorrow."

Konoe nodded.

"Great," Kurenai responded, turning around, she stopped when Konoe pulled her back softly by the arm.

"W-wait, Kurenai-sensei, I've got to ask you something first. It's about Naruto." Kurenai turned around, noticing that behind Konoe, Uchiha Sasuke poked his head through the entrance cloth of Ichiraku's. She glared at him, but he did not budge, matching her stern gaze with an equally intense stare as well. She returned to Konoe's eyes. "Do you... _know_ about... him?"

Kurenai's eyes narrowed, "Yes, he told on the first day I met him."

"Oh, I see then, that's all I wanted to know. Tomorrow, six o' clock sharp..." Konoe then bowed. Kurenai watched her as she slowly walked away, Anko's eyes were also looking as well...

XXXXXXX

Naruto whistled happily as he walked through the hospital doors. He made his way to the receptionist, leaning on the counter of her desk, throwing on his most charming smile. His team was out there somewhere, looming in the shadows as all Anbu did, watching and waiting like the job called for.

"Hi," he said, "could you tell what room Fumina Sanae is in?" He already knew the answer, her just wanted to put on a show for his team.

The receptionist, brown-haired with perky blue eyes did not spare him a glance. She absently flipped through a magazine, her eyelids almost touching as she did so. She could have at least looked like she was doing her job. She switched to another booklet that was laid off to the side, it had white pages, black ink filling the lines. She checked the book thoroughly, running her finger, the nail polished a sanguine red, slowly down the page. "Fumina... hm. Sorry, but nobody is allowed to see her."

"Why not?" Naruto asked, sticking out his lip. This time the lady actually looked up, an amused chuckled escaping her.

"Cute." She said, "But I'm sorry, I still can't let you go through, says here that she just finished some major blood work, let here rest and come by later, visiting hours will still be open until eleven this evening. Okay... cutie-pie?" She gave Naruto a pat on his head, which he excepted with internal reluctance. Externally he kept up his ruse and smiled.

"Alright then, I'll come by later. Oh and I almost forgot; I have a thank you letter from her family, they asked me to give it to Dr. Yakushi to show their gratitude for helping save their daughter."

The receptionist took the small envelope Naruto produced from his back pocket, slightly crumpled and bent, and said she'd put it in his mailbox. She also mentioned something Naruto payed keen attention to. "Just so you know, Dr. Yakushi is not in the village right now, your friend's been put under the care of another doctor. Right now he's away on a private call for him in...," She tapped her chin, "Tanzaku town."

"Thanks miss," he said cheerfully.

She laughed again and smiled. "Oh please, call me Momoka."

Naruto bowed, jogging away while looking back and waving at Momoka, the perky brunette receptionist, "Bye Miss Momoka!" He shouted, "I'll be back later!"

She waved at him all the way until he ran through the automatic sliding doors, which were awesome by the way.

When Naruto rounded the corner, he stopped running, slowing into a calm stride, and placed his hands in his pockets, his eyes narrowed. Nobody else was on the street with him.

"You heard that right?" he asked.

"Of course we did," Saito said from beside him. Naruto wasn't in the least bit startled by his sudden appearance.

"Wow, look at you, Mr. Big time actor. You sure did fool that lady. _Bye miss Momoka!_" Sakai taunted, walking jauntily beside them. Yukari giggled from behind. And sure enough he knew Touei wouldn't say anything. It seemed odd, right now he was walking with an entire Anbu squad out in the open, anyone could have seen them just as easily as they could have _not_ seen them.

His captain placed a hand on his head, Naruto grumbled, "Well, now we know where we can start looking," Saito said.

"Yeah," Naruto agreed, he turned the corner. The feeling of his captain's hand ruffling his hair vanished. On this street there were few villagers lurking about, a couple of stray faces there to buy goods and run around playing ninja. He glanced back and as he predicted his team was gone. He stopped walking, resting one hand on his hip, and glanced at the sky. It was bathed in a light-orange glow that Naruto took in with nothing short of appreciation. With his free hand he made a half ram seal and faded away in a swirl of leaves and wind.

XXXXXXXXXX

He opened his eyes a moment later, he was in front of his apartment door. The brass knob gleamed dimly in the afternoon light, its burnished surface felt warm and smooth against his palm as he opened the door. He was to be quick and efficient, he was to grab only the essentials, what he truly needed for the mission. He knew it would not look good if _he_ were the one who held the team up.

He set a quick pace of walking past his living room, clicking off the lights as he did, and making his way to his bedroom. He already had the images of what he needed in his mind. His kunai holsters, some scrolls...his new mask.

He glided swiftly through the hallways moving past the small kitchen but something resting on the counter top made him do a double take. Atop the counter, beside the refrigerator was something like a lunchbox, its spiral patterned decor told him that it was from Ichiraku's. He glanced at it for a moment until his eyes bulged open and he hurried down the hallway to his room.

The door was already open, light streamed out through the small crack left from someone else's entrance. He pushed the door opened, banging it violently against the wall.

_She must have let herself in._

Konoe was sitting on his bed, in her hand she held his mask. Despite Konoe's heavy breathing, the room was quiet. It was the type of stagnant silence that made a person not want to stick around; the type of quiet that shouldn't have been traded between best friends. Naruto held his hand out for the mask.

"W-what are you doing here Konoe-chan?" She did not answer.

Konoe looked at the mask then into the blue of his eyes, opening her mouth as if to say something then biting her lip close. She handed it over reluctantly, still keeping eye contact. The next thing he knew she was glaring at him, narrowing her eyes so tightly that the skin around them had begun to tighten.

Naruto inched away, he never liked it when she gave him that look. Of course he consistently got that look from Sanae but with Konoe it was different, there was true feeling behind the glare. He wanted to say something but she beat him to the punch.

She huffed, "Naruto do you like me?" She said quickly.

Naruto's eyes widened, "W-well of course, you're my best friend."

"Then why didn't you tell me sooner!" She shot back, she jutted out and pointed her finger at him. "You liar, you didn't wanna tell me...you...you... why couldn't you just tell me like you told my sister?"

"Because-"

"Do you trust her more than me or something?" She sounded gentle, as if she would gracefully accept any answer he gave her.

"No," he placed his mask on the dresser behind him and sat down next to Konoe, taking her hands into his, "You've got it all wrong. I was going to tell both of you at the same time but Sanae got into some trouble and she ended up finding out on her own. I just wanted to tell you in a different way."

Konoe still looked skeptical, so Naruto elaborated.

"I had this whole idea about you _experiencing _what I could do instead of me just telling you."

"W-well how about now?" An awkward silence crept over the two.

"Now?" He raised a brow.

"Yes" she said with a voice that sounded slightly more provocative, "Make me experience it _now_."

"How am I supposed to-" but before he could say anything more Konoe leaned forward, pressing her lips firmly against his. Their hands moved comfortably until they were intertwined and they stayed liked that for a moment. Konoe closed her eyes in bliss while Naruto reciprocated it as best as he could. He could feel her intense breathing through her nose, each breath filled with an overflow of emotion.

And slowly fading away like the sunset, the emotion ended, the magic dwindled and Konoe slowly pulled away, opening her eyes. She was blushing from head to toe.

If he had to guess, he would guess that Konoe just surprised herself, she sure did surprise him. Who knew she even had in her?

"I-I'll just take th-that as your apology," She stammered out quickly before rising to her feet and removing herself from the room. Naruto thought about saying something as he watched her run down the hall but fought against it, opting to let her go. He looked at his mask, its white surface gleamed with the small light shining through the window.

"Why did I let her do that?" He asked himself.

On the opposite end, Konoe did not really get far after leaving Naruto's apartment. She ended up leaning her back against the outside of his front door the minute she'd stepped out. Her lips were still warm because his lips were. They were perfect, just like she'd imagined them to be.

She slapped her forehead and gazed at the sky, her lips were curled in a smile. Sighing deeply she said, "Why did I do that?"

XXXXXXXXX

Saito had handed Naruto a small brown scroll which he had looked at with an angered expression.

"_What the hell do you mean I'm not coming?" _That was the first thing he'd said when he was informed that _he_ would not be going to Tanzaku town. He was supposedly was not qualified to participate mainly because of the possibility of his emotions getting in the way of his better judgment._  
_

They were already outside the village walls. Naruto already had Konoe's little romantic stunt to deal with and now he had this. Now he wasn't _qualified_ for the mission, he wasn't emotionally detached enough to engage in Kabuto's pursuit. But he couldn't help but accept it for what it was, there _was_ some truth in those words.

He cursed to himself; he knew he wasn't ready. The thought of it just made him clench his fist even tighter.

So what was he to do now?

The small brown scroll that was in his pocket was the answer to all his anger, and knowing his mentor, it was to be used as a stress reliever. Ojii-san knew he'd be mad about it and hopefully this mission would be a good way to blow off some steam. Naruto sighed; blow off some steam?

He sure didn't feel like he was Anbu. Black ops members shouldn't have felt the need to blow off any steam, they were supposed to be stolid shells of composure and professionalism and Naruto could only do that to a certain point. Eventually his emotions would get the best of him... kind of like now.

He took a deep breath, putting on his mask. The wide eye holes allowed for more light to reach him, and also gave him, although limited, slightly larger peripherals than most masks. The mission details, simply put, cut down to one word: intercept. The scroll, hand written by his grandfather, said to do only one thing and that was to follow and learn the destinations of any and all petty trade merchants who did not carry Konoha's insignia. His ultimate goal was to snuff out any potential alliances between other villages and sound.

The sky was already beginning to darken, the dark blue of the horizon was beginning to fade to black. The vespertine sounds coming of forest lining either side of the dirt road were beginning to indicate that the nocturnal were already active. Naruto had posted himself beside the largest trade route running north of Fire country, connecting Sound with Sand, it then skewed south where it connected to fire country.

The crickets chirped loudly in the tall grass that Naruto had gone prone in, the mask kept the strands of grass from irritating his face. Now all he needed to do was wait for the signs of an traders passing by. He would look for torch lights and listen for horse hooves, keeping at a safe distance so that if detected he could easily fade away into evanescence if need be.

It was a small wait though, time seemed to rush into his first heard his first signs of his targets before he saw them, the rataplan of hoarse hooves caught his ear, the robust sent catching his nose. He removed his mask to sniff, the smell of the grass kept him from sniffing too vigorously but he could still tell that he was being approached from the left. He raised himself ever so slightly above the grass, just enough for a person to descry a hint of white within the skinny greenish-brown stalks.

Then he saw the torch lights, the warm orange glow illuminated the trade carriage's village symbol clearly. Naruto had understood why the gist of his scroll had instructed him to stay hidden, at all costs. Ojii-san knew what he was doing when it came to him. Underneath his mask he smiled.

He wasn't supposed to be here, nor were any other nin who weren't crossing by on official matters. This sort of espionage was illegal. As of now he was basically positioned in tandem with Oto, sound, and if he got caught snooping around a recognized border on unofficial business between the countries then questions would be asked.

"Way to provide some excitement, Ojii-san," Naruto said calmly as his head turned with the illuminated Sand village trade carriage cruising by. "That better be for us," he murmured. Because if it wasn't for Fire country then who else?

There were only a few possibilities if they were using a trade route this far north of Konoha and the options did not go in favor of the leaf. Either sound or cloud, both of which harbored bad blood for the fire country and its esteemed hidden leaf. If the sand village was trading with sound or cloud that most likely meant that they were...allies.

XXXXXXXXXX

By the time sunlight hit, Konoe was already prepared to walk out the door. She'd woken up around 5:30 in hopes of being the first person out on the field. She knew virtually nothing about Kurenai, except that she was her former sensei's best friend, bust not to test her new sensei's patience she'd be prepared before everyone else.

She told Sanae the news, that she'd spoken to Naruto and about their new temporary training positions on team eight. Sanae failed to seem excited, she didn't even crack a smile when she told her. Konoe left the hospital puzzled after that, her mind focused solely around pondering Sanae's mood.

She'd arrived at the training ground at 5:45, Shino and Hinata had already been sitting by a tree resting at the edge of its copse. Apparently they made it a habit to come before their sensei. Their eyes were closed, Hinata sat cross-legged while Shino simply leaned against the trunk-although she couldn't really tell whether or not Shino really had his eyes closed.

She raised her hand to wave at them and, expectedly, got no response. "Um, guy's wha-"

"Shh!" Shino said soon after adding in, "sit and remain silent for the time being," His head raised a bit as he spoke giving off the impression that he raised it to look at her. When Konoe nodded, Shino's head went back down, his chin disappearing beneath the rim of his color. She'd watched Hinata also; she opened one eye to glance with and patted the ground softly.

She took the gesture as a clear indication and took a seat on Hinata's left side by the trunk. The grass was cool and wet, and a few tall strands actually went up and tickled the lower part of her back. She taken a seat in a spot where the hard roots of the tree extended far and high enough to prod into her butt. It was only natural that Konoe grumbled and shifted uncomfortably.

Hinata placed her hand on one of her now crossed legs, and opening both eyes now. Konoe drew a lot from the look. It instructed her to remain still and meditate. She really took her meditation seriously, didn't she?

She dealt with her position the best she could, not moving because she didn't want to interrupt the session anymore than she already had. Taxing as it was, she found some comfort in the stark beauty of this silence that team eight indulged in. It was definitely something she could grow to appreciate, if not try out herself, because it honestly this just felt kind of good. Konoe felt kind of at peace for the first time in ages.

The flow of cool air, the chirps of birds, the brief moment where it all stopped and then started again a second later. It allowed her mind float, and maybe just maybe that would help her sort out her mind. She needed to make sense of certain things.

This is where meditation ended for Konoe; no more free flowing thoughts of everything, no she'd be soing some actual thinking. Thinking about what was most important to her right now.

She moved her left hand and touch her lips. She kissed Naruto! The thought of it left her tingling with conceal emotion, all of it withheld behind her calm yet rosy expression.

She recalled the feeling, the physical aspect and Naruto's soft lips; the emotional as well and her own beating heart. It all felt so great. It was as if she had lost herself in a cloud of hazy bliss only to find herself again through his mouth. A deep osculation occurred between her and her best friend yesterday.

Now all she wanted to know was...

What would become of her and Naruto?

"I see, we're all accounted for." Kurenai's voice said. Konoe snapped open her eyes; Kurenai was standing over her and Hinata. "Ohayou," She said.

Konoe quickly shuffled to her feet, rubbing her back against the tree bark, dirtying her shirt a bit. "O-ohayougozaimasu!" she said once she was on her feet.

"Oh don't be so formal," Kurenai said waving her hand dismissively.

"Gomen... uh I mean okay..."

"You sound sort of like Hinata."

"Um," Konoe glanced at Hinata, who smiled at the joke, although Konoe didn't really understand.

Kurenai switched topics quickly, "So are you ready for today?"

"Yeah, but you should know that Naruto isn't," she stopped for a moment, thinking about whether or not Shino or Hinata knew about Naruto, "going to be here.." she finished lamely.

Kurenai raised her brow, "Oh I know, why do you think Naruto's captain even showed up there, to inform me that Naruto would be gone for some hours."

Konoe then glanced at Shino and Hinata.

"We all know," Kurenai elaborated.

"Oh..." Konoe said stupidly.

On this inside she huffed, it seemed that Naruto was pretty open about his secret with everyone except for his two_ best_ friends. What a pal he was.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hey so yeah that's it, I'm done. I hope you guys liked it. So just tell me what you think in either a Pm or a review, whichever is fine for you. And um yeah I once again am sorry for the wait, for those of you who actually wait this long for me, I seriously thank you.

So as a little gift, I want to see what people really want. So just for a little while I'll do what you want, a lil' FANSERVICE. So message me or say it in a review, tell what you'd like to read and whichever idea pops up in people's heads the most I'll place it in. But ONE restriction, it can't be about the pairing, because that I won't do.

Okay...um...Bye now!

Next Chapter: Something New for Someone Old


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